bc magazine

Hong Kong Host Papua New Guinea in Three-game ODI Series

After the success of Scotland’s recent visit, Hong Kong men’s cricket squad will host Papua New Guinea for a three-game One Day International (ODI) series in November.

The three game series will be played on Friday 4 November, Sunday 6 November and Tuesday 8 November. The fixtures will be the first ICC recognised ODI series hosted in Hong Kong outside of ICC World Cricket League and will be played at the Tin Kwong Road Recreation Ground in Mong Kok.

Papua New Guinea hosted Hong Kong in Townsville for their first ever ODI’s, which saw PNG play some quality cricket and win the series 2-nil.

Director of Cricket Charlie Burke said the series will be another step forward in what is already a strong relationship between the two emerging regions. “PNG and Hong Kong have both progressed through Cricket’s divisions together over the last few years,” Burke said.

“It was only in 2010 when we met in Division 3 and since then we have both emerged to register some excellent results in the World Cricket League and World Cup qualifiers. Our fans deserve to witness two quality sides that have played in some great battles as well as an opportunity to host PNG, who put on a great series in Townsville. The bigger picture is to continue preparations for the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifiers in 2018.”

The series will be played during a busy period for Hong Kong, following a three-week tour of Ireland and Scotland and right before a trip away to play Kenya in two ICC WCLC matches.

Head Coach Simon Cook says the busy schedule will allow selectors to test the depth of what is now an extended full-time squad. “We have played PNG a lot over the years and the players have detailed knowledge of each other which always makes for an interesting series,” Cook said. “They have some good players that can take the game away from you if you let them so we will have to be on top of our game to beat them. As we speak our players are currently in a strength phase of their training program which is going really well so we should be seeing a faster, stronger and more durable Hong Kong squad leading into this really busy 6 month period.”

Hong Kong v Papua New Guinea
Date: 4, 6 and 8 November, 2016
Venue: Tin Kwong Road Recreation Ground
Tickets: tbc

Hong Kong Ready For Rugby 7s Olympic Repechage Challenge

The winner-take-all sixteen team Olympic Games repechage tournament in Monaco this weekend (18-19 June) will produce the 12^th and final team for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games Rugby Sevens competition.

After reaching the World Rugby World Sevens Series qualifier final at the Hong Kong Sevens in April, Hong Kong have been seeded as the top non-World Sevens Series team in Monaco, topping Pool D ahead of Spain, Mexico and South Korea. World Series veterans Samoa, Russia and Canada head the other three pools.

Coach Gareth Baber has selected an experienced squad with 11 of the 12-man team from the Asian qualifiers in November retained. The squad includes seven of the 12 players that reached the qualifier final at the Hong Kong Sevens last April. With some lingering injury concerns, the squad will travel with 13 players with the final 12-man squad to be named later in Monaco.

Baber has given the nod to up-and-comers Calvin Hunter and the 21-year old Eric Kwok Pak Nga, including them in the travel squad to Monaco. Kwok is in line to potentially mark his Hong Kong debut if he is included in the final 12 for this weekend. Hunter has had several senior squad selections on the Asian series in recent years but will potentially make his 7s debut in the Olympic qualification campaign in Monaco.

Captain Max Woodward, who was held out of the Hong Kong Sevens and the Asia Rugby Championship campaign to rest an ailing quad, returns to the squad as does winger Tom McQueen, whose recovery from a shoulder injury picked up in the domestic Premiership season remains on track.

Rowan Varty, Yiu Kam Shing, Jamie Hood and Alex McQueen add weight to a seasoned squad, while second-generation stars Cado Lee Ka To, Jack Capon, Chris Maize and Michael Coverdale are also included.

“It’s great to have Max and Tom back. They’re both good sevens players and big leaders in our team. They were born to play on stages like these and I hope there are more opportunities for them to do so,” said Baber.

“Both Calvin and Eric came up through the Under 20s sevens and have been training with the senior squad at the HKSI for years. They bring a bit of freshness, innocence even, to the side in just wanting to go out and play rugby. I’m excited to see how they will progress in a pressure tournament like this.

“Calvin has been there and done that – and equipped himself well. He made some mistakes, but he is learning from them and I think Eric will be in a similar position, but we all know that Eric is capable of producing good rugby for us when we need it,” Baber added.

Woodward is also confident in the squad saying, “We’ve kept a core group of players so our preparations have been good. Calvin and Eric have been training with us for a while and have improved a lot. They haven’t had much game time or a chance to show themselves, so it will be good for them get stuck in and gain experience.”

Woodward is also pleased with Hong Kong’s pool saying, “It’s good to have three teams we’ve played before in our pool as it can be a scary prospect playing teams you don’t know much about. Spain, Korea and Mexico are all good sides – we know this – but they’re also sides we’ve beaten before so we can take some confidence going in,” Woodward said.

The captain isn’t fazed by the prospect of meeting World Series core teams in Monaco either: “We know we have the game to challenge any team and win matches, but it’s about our consistency and hitting our performance markers every time we play. Regardless of what happens there isn’t really any pressure on us. These are the tournaments we want to play in. We don’t have enough chances like this so we’re excited to give it a go and see what happens,” added Woodward.

Before that prospect can be realised, Hong Kong will need to finish at or near the top of the pool. Spain poses the toughest challenge but Hong Kong will be buoyed by their 12-7 win over the Spaniards in last year’s World Rugby Sevens Series qualifier.

“This squad is experienced,” said Baber, “even the guys with few caps are part of the HKSI programme. We have some changes in personnel with the eligibility issue around what type of squad we can field, but the players know what they need to do and we set high standards for ourselves,” added Baber.

Baber knows that advancing at the top of the pool only earns Hong Kong the opportunity to play against teams like Samoa, who finished in the top ten on the World Series this season and collected their first Series win since 2012 in Paris just last month, but it is a prospect he relishes.

“That is where we want to be. We prepare the exact same way for a game like that as we would for any other game in the pool or on the Asian Series. We want to test ourselves and the World Series is the standard we want to be hitting.

“If we can play like we know we can, then there is an opportunity for us to nick results and push ourselves forward. But we need more opportunities like Monaco. What we can get done in two days of an international tournament like this is worth six months on the training field,” concluded Baber.

On the verge of his first appearance for Hong Kong young flyer Eric Kwok Pak Nga is trying to contain his excitement. “It has always been my dream to play for Hong Kong. I have a few goals in my rugby career. I want to represent Hong Kong, make the squad for the Hong Kong Sevens and of course represent Hong Kong in an Olympics. I have a chance to make two of those goals come true this weekend and I hope I can grab it. I’m excited, a bit nervous maybe, but I’m tying not to put myself under too much pressure. There are a few guys out with injuries, so I just want to make the best of this opportunity if I’m selected.

“I think my finishing and my stepping is one of my strongest skills. Hopefully I can contribute to the team offensively and also contribute to the team environment and bring my passion for the game and for the team into the competition environment. Even I’m not the most experienced guy I want to have an impact on the team,” said Kwok.

Olympic Repechage Tournament fixtures are here

Hong Kong 7s Squad for Olympic Repechage Tournament in Monaco
Max Woodward (Captain), Rowan Varty, Yiu Kam Shing, Jamie Hood, Alex Mcqueen, Tom McQueen, Lee Ka To, Calvin Hunter, Kwok Pak Nga, Jack Capon, Michael Coverdale, Chris Maize, Mark Wright.

Dragon Boats & Dumplings

Celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, Tuen Ng Festival is, in the minds of many, associated with the annual dragon boat races. However, zongzi (steamed glutinous rice ‘dumplings’ with various fillings wrapped in bamboo leaves) are also an important Tuen Ng tradition. bc magazine takes a look at two of the Tuen Ng traditions that are now enjoyed by people around the world.

When the Chu poet and statesman Qu Yuan (340 – 277 BC) threw himself into the Miluo river (in what is now Hunan province), in protest of the Qin army’s capture of the Chu capital, the villagers raced out on their boats to try and save the poet, but were unable to even retrieve his body from the river. In an effort to prevent the fish from devouring the dead poet’s corpse, people threw rice dumplings to feed the fish and also beat the water’s surface with their paddles in order to frighten the fish away from Qu Yuan’s body. These actions led to two of the most enduring traditions associated with Tuen Ng Festival: dumplings (zongzi) and dragon boat racing.

Zongzi
For many Chinese, zongzi is a far more memorable part of Tuen Ng festival than dragon boat racing. Not everyone takes part in dragon boat races, but almost all Chinese families eat dumplings every year at this time of year. Traditionally, zongzi were made at home, but nowadays most people buy them instead. Although zongzi are easy to make, the preparation is extremely time-consuming. Because of the extensive preparation involved, the whole family took part in making the zongzi. The glutinous rice must first be soaked overnight in water and the bamboo leaves also have to be washed and soaked, while the fillings must also be prepared. Zongzi (steamed rice dumplings) consist of glutinous rice stuffed with a sweet or savory filling, wrapped in bamboo leaves into a roughly pyramidal shape and tied with string. They are then boiled for about 2 hours.

Zongzi were at first eaten only once a year on the day of the festival, but nowadays, due to the popularity of the dumplings, convenient ready-made zongzi are available year-round at supermarkets and restaurants. Variants such as pearl chicken (glutinous rice stuffed with chicken and wrapped in lotus leaves) are also a popular staple on the dim sum menu.

There are myriad varieties of filling available: in northern China, dates are popular; in Shanghai, dumplings are stuffed with soy sauce marinated fatty pork and salted egg. Here in southern China, zongzi are stuffed with pork as well as mung beans and other fattening fillings. In Hong Kong, “deluxe” zongzi with abalone, conpoy and other expensive delicacies are also available. Not only do the fillings differ from region to region, the way people enjoy zongzi is also different. In Shanghainese households, savory dumplings are dipped in sugar before eating, while in the south, zongzi are dipped in soy sauce. “Never, ever, dip your zongzi in soy sauce. We’re from Shanghai and we dip our zongzi in sugar” was an oft-repeated admonishment from my childhood. Each region of China makes zongzi differently and each is convinced that their own zongzi are better than the others. There are also sweet zongzi, stuffed with items like red beans and lotus seed paste.

Sweet & sour chicken isn’t the only culinary gift that Chinese cooking has given the world: zongzi are also eaten in Japan, Burma, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, and even Mexico. From their humble origins as fish food, zongzi have become part of a global culinary tradition.

Dragon Boats
Like zongzi, dragon boat races were once only held at Tuen Ng festival but are now held year-round. Just as with zongzi, dragon boat races have developed and evolved into global sporting events. The International Dragon Boat Federation estimates that nearly 50 million people take part in dragon boat races annually. Even with the increased commercialisation of the events, the dragon boat races still embody values of teamwork, solidarity and tradition that pay fitting tribute to the patriot Qu Yuan.

Dragon boat racing has become so much more than a group of villagers honouring a dead patriot. At Stanley Main Beach, the celebration of Tuen Ng festival is firmly based in the 21st century, having evolved into an important sporting and social event. The internationally famous event attracts thousands of spectators through the day looking to enjoy the spectacle. Although technically an amateur event many teams have commercial sponsors, compete in the various competitions across the city and start practicing months in advance as paddlers from across the globe hone their skills.

Dragon boat racing is very much a team sport. It’s easy for beginners to learn how to paddle, but it takes time to synchronise a whole team’s rhythm. Even though it’s supposedly a fun event at the beach it’s also fiercely competitive – which fosters a sense of camaraderie within and across teams.

Despite its having become a major international sport, dragon boat racing has an uniquely Asian cultural heritage and it’s sad that some participants are unaware of the details of the story of Qu Yuan. However, it isn’t necessary to know the background of the Tuen Ng festival to enjoy the festive spirit that eating zongzi and taking part or watching dragon boat races bring – and that is what’s important about Tuen Ng: that sense of community.

Stanley International Dragon Boat Championships
Date: 10:30am, 9 June, 2016
Venue: Stanley Main Beach
Tickets: Free

Dragon Boat Carnival
Date:10-12 June, 2016
Venue: Central Harbourfront
Tickets: Free
More info:
10 June – 12pm to 5:30pm
11-12 June – 8:30am to 5:30pm

This article was published in the print edition of bc magazine

Kowloon Cantons and Warriors Joint Winners of Inaugural T20 Blitz

The inaugural DTC Hong Kong T20 Blitz has ended with heavy overnight rain causing the abandonment of all three of Sunday’s matches including the final. Although Sunday was sunny, the pitch was waterlogged and unfit for play.

The rain had affected the opening two days of the tournament, but Saturday’s sold out and enthusiastic crowd showed both the players and the HK Cricket Association that the tournament has an exciting future.

The Warriors and Kowloon Cantons who were joint top of the points table at the end of day Two with a win and a no-result were declared joint winners of 2016’s T20 Blitz.

“The standard of cricket in the tournament was excellent, Cantons captain Scott McKechnie said. “The Warriors in particular were playing some very good cricket and I’m sure if we had a final today it would have been a very good game to watch. I think this weekend we’ve really put Hong Kong Cricket on the map, and it’s got great exposure for all the right reasons.”

Despite the disappointment of not playing the final, Warriors captain Jamie Atkinson echoed the thoughts of McKechnie in seeing the tournament’s bigger picture. “It was a great experience to get this tournament going anyway and get the best players in Hong Kong and the overseas talent to come in. At least we got some matches in at a good standard, hopefully next year it will be bigger and better.”

“It’s obviously a major disappointment to have today washed out but we need to look at the positives at what this event has achieved as a whole,” Hong Kong Cricket Association Tournament Chief Max Abbott said. “I need to thank the ground staff and volunteers for their help to do everything possible to get the ground ready for play. We’ll be back bigger and better next year – hopefully with a venue that is improved.”

T20 Blitz leading run scorer was Ryan Campbell (Kowloon Cantons) with 88 runs.
T20 Blitz leading wicket taker was Nadeem Ahmed (Island Warriors) with 4 wickets.

For all the tournament stats and results see here

T20 Blitz @ Mission Road – 28 May, 2016

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The inaugural T20 Blitz got underway in-front of an enthusiastic crowd. Four teams (Kowloon Cantons, Lantau Galaxy Riders, Island Warriors, Hung Hom Jaguars) are competing for the trophy and the cricket was fiercely competitive under grey skies. The rain gods held off for one and a half matches which saw some glorious shot-making and tight bowling. A sharp heavy shower curtailed the second match, but hard work and some sunshine saw the ground drained and ready for the day’s third game.

After entertaining the crowd with a couple of big shots in his second innings in Hong Kong Australia’s former captain Michael Clarke watched as Ryan Campbell launched the biggest 6 of the day out of the ground, over the softball pitch to be caught somewhere over Victoria Harbour by Yu Shi. Upset to be told that gods didn’t qualify for a free DTC mobile phone for a catch in the crowd, the heavens opened and heavy rain ended the day’s play.
Click on any photo for the full gallery.

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Japan 30-3 Hong Kong @ Tokyo – 28 May, 2016

A pretty poor Japan easily contained Hong Kong’s women who lost 30-3 in the second and final match of the Asia Rugby Women’s Championship (ARWC) in Tokyo today. The win ensured Japan comfortably clinched the ARWC title, which was this year fought out between only two sides due to the withdrawal of Kazakhstan.

Hong Kong coach Jo Hull’s post match interview was full of positive cliches and comments (see below) about character and positivity but especially in the first half Japan were poor and yet Hong Kong failed to turn field position and possession into points. Hong Kong’s play was slow and painfully predictable and despite spending considerable time close to the Japan try line in the first quarter they never looked like scoring a try.

Ignoring the many handling and set piece errors the team were a step too slow mentally and physically. Rather than assessing what they saw infront of them, it was like ‘we’re here, we must do this’ which is all well and good but easily defended. When Hong Kong did penetrate it was instinctive and that faster speed of thought created the openings…. Patterns and structure are good, but the continually improving quality of the women’s game means that when an opponents structure has a weak point a player must instinctively attack it, taking a second to realise it’s there means it’s gone before you can take advantage.

“The character was there today,” Hull said, “We went out with a real belief that we could win and we showed some positive signs. In the second half, our defensive structure was there but they started to generate momentum in attack and some really poor decisions put us under pressure.

“We had a good 50 minutes but that’s not good enough. Whilst we did improve, which is what I asked the team to do, it still wasn’t a good enough performance at this level,” Hull added.

Japan were again the more switched on in the opening minutes of the game and easily scored the first try of the game, with prop Saki Minami driving over the line. Hong Kong responded well to the early set back and dictated play for a period, finding itself within metres of the line on a couple of occasions.

After spending some time off the ground in the first half for a concussion test after a heavy hit, Rose Fong Siu-lan returned to the field and provided a spark. Hong Kong’s relentless attacking earned it a penalty, with Aggie Poon Pak-yan opening the scoring for the visitors 16 minutes in.

When not in control of the ball in the first half, Hong Kong defended resolutely with scrum-half Colleen Tjosvold and centre Natasha Olson-Thorne leading from the front.

Japan, with Mizuki Homma and Yuki Ito to the fore punished Hong Kong in the lead up to the break and a try to winger Homma ensured the home side a 10-3 half-time lead.

A determined and persistent Hong Kong again matched Japan in the opening stages of the second half, but a try to Miki Terauchi after 56 minutes of play ended the away side’s hopes and the Sakura struck again nine minutes later, with Yuki Sue crossing after a sustained attacking effort from Japan. This opened the floodgates and turned what had been a tightly fought contest into another blow out, with tries to Riho Kurogi and Ai Hyugaji in the final 10 minutes stretching the margin out to 27 points.

“Their skills under pressure are better than ours. It really is as simple as that and that has to be our key focus going forward. You can have the best game plan in the world but you have to be able to execute under pressure,” Hull said.

Hong Kong showed some improvement in the scrum but was again let down by its lineout work, especially early.

“Our accuracy and decision making were issues, we lost our first three lineouts and at this level you can’t do that,” Hull said. “That was disappointing because that was a huge improvement area in Singapore.”

Fullback Adrienne Garvey and prop Lau Nga-wun also gave good accounts of themselves for Hong Kong as Hull now looks ahead to the Women’s Rugby World Cup qualifying period in December.

“We are now very aware of what we need to work on and we’ve got a committed group to do that. The responsibility has to be on us as coaches and the players to improve our skills and that’s through working harder and making sure we prioritise that over the summer, along with our fitness,” Hull added.

Hong Kong have the talent within the squad to compete and beat Japan, but realistically need to play more challenging games against players they don’t see every week and whose strengths and weaknesses they know. Perhaps the Premiership sides should have games against the top Japanese and Chinese clubs or a women’s professional squad similar to the men’s could make tours of Europe. Yes it costs money, which the HKRU has lots of, and commitment from the players but you sense that given the opportunity many would take it. And for now as the women’s game grows and with the talent we have the chance exists, can the HKRU stop their blinkered focus on the men’s game long enough to take advantage in away that the team couldn’t on the pitch today. We HongKongers can only hope so.

Additional reporting and image: HKRU

Hong Kong Look to Regain Respect

Hong Kong women’s coach Jo Hull has made only one change to the starting VX that defeated Singapore 40-7 on May 14 for her side’s Asia Rugby Championship match against Japan on Saturday.

Lock Cheng Ching-to comes on to the ground and Claire Forster moves to the bench to make way, while Nam Ka-man and tighthead prop Lee Ka-shun also come in on the reserves bench.

Hull said the changes have been made predominantly to reward players for good form in the win against Singapore. “From the Singapore game, we took a lot of positives about what we can do and what we’d like to try and implement against a harder defence against Japan,” she said. “It’s given them a boost and I think it just gave them an opportunity to play a little bit more against Singapore. Going into to Japan it’s now all about transferring those skills.”

Hong Kong were outclassed by Japan in the opening match of the series, falling 39-3, and while making up the points to win the title may be unrealistic, for Hull closing the gap is not.

“It would be good to win the Asia Championship, but that’s more of an outcome for me,” Hull said.“Our goal in this game is our specific areas, because that’s how we can measure improvement as opposed to points for and against at the end of a tournament.”

The team has been training hard and will be looking for a kick start through its set piece work on the weekend after a poor showing in the lineout against Japan last time around. Hull is hopeful the fitness and in-match pressure gained by the extra game against Singapore will give her side a slight edge over Japan.

“The key thing is improvement,” Hull said. “We’ve talked about improving every time and that’s an absolute must. The result is important but the most important thing is that we improve on performances in some key specific areas that we’ve identified against Japan.”

The performance of centre combination Natasha Olson-Thorne and Rose Fong Siu-lan will be crucial to Hong Kong’s chances, while fly-half Lai Pou-fan should also have a big say on proceedings.

“Having Rose and Natasha in the centres, if they operate well, they could be a real good strike power both in attack and defence,” Hull said. “That is what are aiming to do, create a bit more space, hopefully, this week.”

Hong Kong will use the disappointment from their last effort against Japan for motivation and Hull hopes the match can set the ball rolling for the team’s World Cup qualifying campaign.

She has an eye even further into the future as well: “In terms of the development, I’m hoping we can go out and put on a performance that really inspires young kids to play the game,” she said.“I’m not sure we did that against Japan at home so we’ve got a job on our hands Saturday.”

Hong Kong Women’s XV v Japan (28 May):
1. Lau Nga Wun; 2. Winnie Siu Wing Ni; 3. Cheung Shuk Han; 4. Cheng Ching To; 5. Chow Mei Nam (captain); 6. Christine Gordon; 7. Melody Li Nim Yan; 8. Amelie Seure; 9. Colleen Tjosvold; 10. Lai Pou Fan; 11. Chong Ka Yan; 12. Rose Fong Siu Lan; 13. Natasha Olson-Thorne; 14. Aggie Poon Pak Yan; 15. Adrienne Garvey.
Substitues: 16. Lee Ka Shun; 17. Ku Hoi Ying; 18. Angela Chan Ka Yan; 19. Claire Forster; 20. Tsang Sharon Shin Yuen; 21. Lindsay Varty; 22. Cheng Tsz Ting; 23. Nam Ka Man.

International Dragon Boat Races:10-12 June @ Victoria Harbour

Celebrating its 40th anniversary, the Hong Kong International Dragon Boat Races relocate to the Central Harbourfront. Over 4,000 paddlers from 14 countries will compete as dragon boat racing returns to Victoria Harbour for the first time in years.

There’ll also be extensive onshore entertainment for all ages.

Dragon Boat Carnival
Date:10-12 June, 2016
Venue: Central Harbourfront
Tickets: Free
More info:
10 June – 12pm to 5:30pm
11-12 June – 8:30am to 5:30pm