Ice Hockey Athletes Feel 'no One Cares'

Members of the Hong Kong men’s ice hockey team on Friday said they felt under-appreciated as a result of the fallout from a national anthem blunder at a tournament in Bosnia.

They added their voice to the controversy a day after the Hong Kong Ice Hockey Association (HKIHA) released a strongly worded statement over an incident in which organisers in Sarajevo played a song linked to the 2019 social unrest instead of the March of the Volunteers.

The ice hockey body said the Sports Federation and Olympic Committee (SF&OC) showed little interest in mentioning the incident in a meeting last month.

Instead, the committee said getting silver or bronze was not that outstanding, as only four to six teams competed in each tournament - a comment which the SF&OC denied making.

On a Commercial Radio programme, the Hong Kong team’s vice-captain, Alvin Sham, said he would feel undervalued if the comment had been made.

Ying Yeung, a member of the team, told the same show that he understands how people who are not involved in sports might make similar comments. But it shouldn’t come from the top sports committee in Hong Kong.

“If it's the Sports Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong who made the comment, they should know the difficulties that athletes face and the amount of time we have to spend on training etc. If they also talk like that, I would feel that we're going out [to compete] for no reason,” Yeung said.

Yeung also added that though the team won the bronze medal, the focus was on the anthem incident instead of their achievement.

“It's frustrating that we spend so much time and effort on training, travel far, take time off work, play through illness and bad conditions to achieve good results. Yet, once we return, no one cares about our achievements,” Yeung said.

On Tuesday, the sports committee announced that it had initiated suspension proceedings against the HKIHA over the incident. The SAR government also said it will consider reducing subsidies if the suspension goes ahead, but added that any funding cuts will be made under the premise of not affecting athletes.