bc magazine

Hong Kong Women Seek Improvement at Columbo Sevens

After a disappointing first two tournaments in the Asia Womens Rugby Sevens 2016 where Hong Kong finished third in both, Hong Kong women’s sevens coach Anna Richards and her squad head to the Columbo Sevens seeking their first wins of the season over Japan and China who won in Hong Kong and Korea respectively.

Hong Kong are pooled behind China and ahead of a rapidly improving Singapore side and Sri Lanka in Pool C. Japan top Pool D along with Thailand, South Korea and India on their season debut.

Richards has selected an unchanged squad from the last outing. “We played pretty well in Korea so we didn’t see the need to make changes,” said Richards, who noted that attacking wing Aggie Poon Pak-yan is still sidelined by injury and will miss her second tournament of the series.

Hong Kong’s chances to move higher in the rankings would require either China or Japan, who have swapped the titles and runners-up spots over the first two legs, to fall outside of the top four, while Hong Kong would have to at least reach the final this weekend.

“It doesn’t seem likely due to the consistency of China and Japan this season,” said Richards. “We would have to reach the final while one of the others would have to have a steep fall. We are more focused on our own performance and consolidating our third placed finish.”

Instead, Richards will be looking for a breakout performance against first China in the pool stages. “We would like to perform better against China. From what we are hearing they will have a totally different team in Sri Lanka compared to what we have seen so far, with players being drawn from a new province. Who knows what will turn up but most of the provincial sides in China are pretty similar and we are expecting that they will again be very competitive,” said Richards.

“We want to consolidate our third place finish and also to play better than we have done so far. Training has been going well and the girls have put a lot of work into this weekend so now we just need to perform,” Richards added.

The tournament is being live streamed at www.asiarugby.com

Hong Kong: Cheng Ka-Chi, Christy (captain); Natasha Olson-Thorne (vice Captain); Nam Ka-Man; Candy Cheng Tsz-Ting; Amelie Seure; Sham Wai-Sum; Colleen Tjosvold; Kwong Sau-Yan; Lindsay Varty; Chong Ka-Yan, Adrienne Garvey, Yuen Lok-Yee.

Additional reporting and image: HKRU

Hong Kong Aim to be Crowned Asia Rugby Sevens Champions

Looking to complete a wire-to-wire finish after sweeping the first two legs – beating Sri Lanka in both finals. Hong Kong men’s teams head to Colombo for this weekend’s Sri Lanka Sevens, the final tournament of the 2016 Asia Rugby Sevens Series.

Coach Gareth Baber’s men’s team will clinch first place for the third time in the last five seasons with a top three finish this weekend having comfortably won every cup final this season aided by their main rivals Japan sending untested teams to the previous two legs. In the absence of Japan, Sri Lanka has loomed as the largest threat to Hong Kong’s dominance, a threat that will be even more ominous this weekend when the Lankans play in front of their fervent home supporters in Colombo.

With Mark Wright and the McQueen brothers out of action, Baber has made three changes. Forward Jack Capon comes into the team alongside Tomasi Lawa who is returning from a lengthy injury lay-off. Former U20s sevens player Jason Jeyam has also been handed his senior sevens debut.

“It is good to have Tomasi back,” said Baber. “He picked up a nasty ankle injury before the series last year that kept him out for a lengthy period. He has worked hard on his recovery and it is great to see a player come back and return to play at the same level as before their injury.Tomasi is a great asset in a squad of 12 with his versatility. He can play in either the backs or forwards, is a good ball carrier and strong in the offload. He can also help us win ball in the air with his size.”

Jeyam is set to make his senior debut after returning from university in the United Kingdom. “Jason has been training with the squad since June. He kept in good communication with us while he was away, updating us on his rugby, and he has impressed us since coming back. He has those attributes that you look for in sevens: pace, good spatial awareness and a very good individual skillset.

“He has played a lot at U20s level and was a key member of the successful U20s 7s sides of recent years. It is exciting to see another young player coming through,” Baber added.

Hong Kong’s pool sees South Korea, Malaysia and Japan rounding out the day one opposition. Hong Kong’s first match will be against a weakened Japan team that has fallen to its lowest spot on the series table in recent memory.

“We never underestimate any team and will be treating this Japan side as if it were the same as the one that played in the Olympics. We have our own objectives from the series and want to work on ourselves this weekend. Our focus is on getting the players to recognize what tournaments like this present for them and us, the opportunity to maintain a consistent approach.”

Barring a shock collapse in form, Hong Kong’s previous efforts should see them claim the Asian title. “There is still a chance that we finish outside of number one. Effectively we need to reach the last three. If Sri Lanka were to win the final and we fell to fourth or fifth there is a mathematical chance that they could win the Series,” said Baber, who knows the hosts will be up for the challenge.

“Sri Lanka at home with a sniff of first place will prove a tough environment – the toughest so far on the Series. But this is the type of environment we want to play in. We want to test ourselves and to be put under pressure, to challenge the players to put out their best performance no matter the conditions.”

Knowing the atmosphere that awaits Hong Kong Baber is even more pleased to be handing debuts to Lawa (2016 Series) and Jeyam (senior debut). “It’s one of the pluses of giving those opportunities to Tomasi and Jason. It will present a bit of a new look to the field and gives us the opportunity to develop our guys while posing slightly different questions to what we have done so far.”

The tournament is being live streamed on Asiarugby.com

Hong Kong: Max Woodward (Captain), Jack Capon, Michael Coverdale, Christopher Maize, Lee Jones, Cado Lee Ka-To, Ben Rimene, Tomasi Lawa, Jason Jeyam, Rowan Varty, Ryan Meacheam, Salom Yiu Kam-Shing.

Additional reporting and image: HKRU

Bowie/Collector

Many people know of David Bowie through his music and films and his influence transcended music to shape the wider culture of our time. As well as being a talented artist, Bowie loved art and in a way that isn’t possible today, courtesy of social media and camera phones, took an active role in the art world both buying art at auction, meeting artists and sitting on the editorial board of renowned art magazine Modern Painters.

“Art was, seriously, the only thing I’d ever wanted to own. It has always been for me a stable nourishment. I use it. It can change the way I feel in the mornings. The same work can change me in different ways, depending on what I’m going through.” David Bowie – NYTimes 1998

The breadth and scope of Bowie’s personal art collection was revealed with the release of Sotheby’s online auction catalogue earlier this month. It features over 400 pieces including a ‘spin’ painting that Bowie created in collaboration with Damien Hirst, an altarpiece by Renaissance master Tintoretto, as well as works by 20th Century British Masters such as David Bomberg, Stanley Spencer, Frank Auerbach and Leon Kossoff.

A selection of Bowie’s collected artworks are on display in Hong Kong ahead of next months Sotherby’s auction. For further information: www.sothebys.com/BowieCollector

Bowie/Collector – Hong Kong Preview
Date: 10am-6pm, 12-15 October, 2016
Venue: Sotheby’s Hong Kong Gallery, 5/F, One Pacific Place, Admiralty
Tickets: Free

Blair Reeve: Author and Peel Street Poet

New Zealander Blair Reeve has been writing and performing a rhythmic and comical style of performance poetry since 1995. He spent the first seven years of the new millennium teaching English in Japanese junior high schools before moving to Hong Kong where he continued to teach phonics to primary students until 2013. He graduated from Massey University (NZ) in 2012 after studying Japanese and English Literature and then turned his attention to more sustained creative writing by joining the City University of Hong Kong’s Masters in Fine Arts program. He completed this in 2014, and one year later published his first children’s book Hogart The Hedgehog Turns Nink. In September 2016 he published his second book for young readers, Greta von Gerbil & Her Really Large Lexicon. Currently he works from home, caring for his infant daughter and mentoring post-grad students at Chinese U for their portfolios in creative writing. He was a feature author in the Hong Kong Young Readers’ Literary Festival in March 2016 and will be performing at the upcoming TEDxWanChai event on October 29.

How long have you been involved in poetry?
I’ve been involved in poetry since I was a kid in the 70s. First as a reader of comic verse—things like Spike Milligan, limericks & nonsense verse. In high school I really took to analyzing poetry, but I didn’t start writing until I was about 20. I was a pretender of anguished verse, which came from being one of those dyed-in-the-wool Cure fans. I then took up writing poetry as something to be read aloud and performed. This transition from pretender to writer/performer happened around 1996.

What inspires you to write?
My inspiration comes entirely from other poets and poetry. When I see writing I like it makes me want to write better. Hence my early poems were all like bad Goth lyrics. Then I was inspired by other performer-poets during my Dunedin days of the 90s and some of the old Victorian stuff I read at that time, especially Gerard Manly Hopkins who had a really playful word thing going on. Dr. Seuss continues to be an inspiration when I read to my daughter and that led me to wanting to write comical anapestic rhyming verse. This is so much fun I’m sticking with it for the time being.

How does Hong Kong influence your writing?
Hong Kong influences my writing in an indirect way. My social scene is miscellaneous and so it frees me to be as experimental as I like. It also means the cultural inputs into my writing are diverse, and I like that. I like that my poetry is informed by so many different perspectives. But my writing tends to be interior and imaginative rather than worldly, and in that sense, Hong Kong as a direct subject has yet to make it into my writing.

Here’s an extract from Blair’s new children’s book.

Flaytoo the Friendly Mayfly (extract)
Said Phlooty the Mayfly to Flaytoo his boy,
“You’re four hours old now, you’ve played with that toy
since the moment your mother gave birth to you son.
You’ve only got twenty more hours to have fun,
so don’t hesitate, Flayt, get out in the sun.”

“We’re fish food, young chap, and that’s perfectly fine.
I’ve nothing against fish who do need to dine,
but there’s no need to hurry yourself to their plate.
Your time here is precious. Their stomachs can wait.
So listen up kiddo, go fly to the ends
of the field and make lots of new wonderful friends.
Because mayflies like us—we don’t live very long.
We’ve only one day till the end of our song.”

Then Phlooty the Mayfly unflicked his four wings,
and left Flaytoo flying alone without strings.

“Say what?” exclaimed Flaytoo, “I’ve only one day?
That barely leaves time for a Mayfly to play!
Well I certainly mustn’tly waste my time ruing
those four hours gone when I ought to be doing
what Phlooty suggested—travelling and seeing
how other flies spend their lives living and being.”

Peel Street Poetry is an open mic poetry night at Orange Peel. It runs every Wednesday of the month except the first. The environment is friendly and they love new performers, so come share your poetry or just listen along to some of Hong Kong’s sharpest poetic talents.

Peel Street Poetry Open Mic
Date: 2nd, 3rd, 4th (and 5th) Wednesdays of the month
Venue: Orange Peel
Tickets: Free
More info:
www.peelstreetpoetry.com

Edited: 1 November 2016 – extract amended, last line was missing

Psychedelic Timelapse Hyperlapse Hong Kong Video

https://vimeo.com/185292301

Hong Kong Timelapse & Hyperlapse (https://vimeo.com/185292301)

Photographer Kirill Neiezhmakov has created a stunning video to capture his impressions of Hong Kong. Shot in September 2015 this is not your typical timelapse video. It’s a timelapse / hyperlapse video with a hefty dose of psychedelic elements and a tight soundtrack.

The video was made using two Canon cameras, a variety of lenses and a GoPro Hero 4. Post production was done in Adobe After Effects, Lightroom and LRTimelapse.

Alan Fang, the Man Behind Hong Kong’s Formula ePrix

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2016/A-Racetrack-Emerges-3-October/i-Fh8dxnz/A

As the Cental Harbourfront is transformed CEO of the Hong Kong Formula e Prix Alan Fang, the man who has quite amazingly managed to make this event happen – Chapeau Sir – walked bc around the track and pit lane and gave an insight into some of the problems involved in organising Hong Kong’s first street race. “Logistically it’s a massive undertaking, getting all the various government departments to sign-off was hard as often their needs and desires conflicted and as this is the first event of this kind in Hong Kong – government officials are naturally erring on the side of caution and extra safety”.

bc, like many fans may be, was disappointed to see that many of the grandstands are set a fair way back from the track. The reason Fang says is simply safety. “The cars are reaching speeds of up to 240km/h, these concrete blocks bordering the track are over 4 tonnes each. If, and we hope it doesn’t happen, car meets block then the car is designed to disintegrate to protect the driver and shards of carbon-fibre will be flying everywhere”.

If you bought an e village ticket you will not be able to see the racetrack, and will only be able to watch the racing on the big tv screens

When bc asked why? Fang replied “It’s principally safety, the layout of the track meant it was hard to ensure that enough evillage fans could safely see the track. We worked on 60%, could we safely ensure that an extra 5,400 race fans could watch the track. It wasn’t possible, so we opted for none. There are car manufacturer booths, race team tents, games, food, entertainment etc in the evillage at prices comparable to outside. We want people to have fun, enjoy the racing and experience the technology”.

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Fans walking between the evillage areas and on the public paths and the bridge to the Star Ferry will find the racetrack screened off. This is not Fang explained because the organisers don’t want you watching the race for free, but rather on police advice to keep the flow of people moving and not create unsafe bottlenecks caused by those looking to watch the race. The screens will undoubtedly frustrate some, but walking the area and given our civil servants fear of the new and different and their terror of being blamed if something goes wrong – you can’t really expect much else at this first running of the event.

It means the only ‘free’ places where you can watch the race live will be from the Apple Store, HK City Hall balcony and the IFC roof terrace. Unless that is you have friends with an office overlooking the track or know someone in the PLA barracks. The mini wheel is open as normal.

Ali Russell Formula e’s Director of Communications expanded further “Fans should not come expecting something like the Formula 1 events they’ve seen on television, this is Formula e. I compare it to skiing and snow-boarding – same, same but completely different.” He continued “The noise and atmosphere is, more like other sports, generated by the fans, the cars produce an aerodynamic whine passing through the air but are otherwise completely silent. This means the drivers can hear the fans, and they can (like regular drivers) hear their car”.

Concluding Russell said “Enjoy us for what we are, don’t judge us on your expectations based on another sport. Outside of Formula 1 these are some of the best drivers in the world”. bc would use the analogy that football and rugby are both balls sports, the match experience is very different for each, but we enjoy watching both.

If you don’t have a ticket, some evillage tickets are on sale on the day, the race is also live on free local TV.

Photos: Jayne Russell, bc magazine

On the Road to England 2017

The Hong Kong Women’s team are eager to shine on home turf during the ICC Women’s World Cup 2017 – Asia Qualifier 2016 which starts this Sunday.

China, Nepal, Thailand and Hong Kong will compete in a round-robin tournament where each team will play everyone twice. The top ranked team will earn a place in the global qualifiers for England 2017.

Captain Mariko Hill is looking forward to the tournament. “The pre-tour to India has boosted everyone’s confidence, so I’m sure everyone is looking forward to displaying their abilities.”

“Hosting an ICC event is rare let alone playing on home soil! We understand the conditions better and we hope to use this to our advantage. We can then plan strategies ahead of time according to the ground conditions and the team we are playing against,” said Hill.

“We are among the favourites to win the tournament. I have full faith and confidence in my team mates that we will too, seeing how hard we have trained over the last few months. Although I have some personal goals, the overarching goal for me is simply to contribute as much as I can to the team reaching the ICC World Cup Qualifiers next year,” added the captain.

Chloe Ip is one of the newer members of the Hong Kong team, after being scouted in a programme designed to find Hong Kong-born cricketers abroad.

“I was born in Hong Kong but moved to Australia with Mum and Dad when I was three years old, and my relatives are still live in Hong Kong,” said Ip.

“I don’t think it has really fully sunk in yet. Hopefully I will get picked to play at some stage during the tournament and wear the Hong Kong shirt. It will be an honour. The whole family living here are very excited and proud of the prospect of this happening.”

“Even though I’ve grown up in Australia I haven’t forgotten my roots and family history. Hong Kong has been close to my heart and I’ve been back as much as possible to visit. I am fitting in well with the girls, they’ve welcomed me with open arms from the first day. I enjoy the cultural diversity within the squad a lot.”

ICC Women’s World Cup 2017 – Asia Qualifier 2016
Date: 9-15 October
Venues: Kowloon Cricket Club, Hong Kong Cricket Club, Tin Kwong Recreation Ground
Tickets: free.

Additional reporting and image: HK Cricket

Building a Racetrack

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2016/Birth-of-a-Racetrack-1-October/i-rBDSVN4

The inaugural Hong Kong Formula e-prix is a week away and construction of the racetrack and infrastructure has started on the Central Harbourfront. bc took a wander around to see how the reality compares with the track graphic posted by the organisers.

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