Night of Champions 2
When: 7pm, 29 August, 2015
Where: HKCEC, Hall 3D
Tickets: $1,880, $1,280, $880, $580, $380 from HKTicketing
Tag: sport
Olympic Rugby Sevens Qualifier: 7-8 November, 2015
http://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2015/HK-Womens-Sevens-HKFC-2015/48253501_bZdxnd#!i=3956038898&k=s9rDWmr
Tickets for the two day Asia Olympic Sevens Qualifier on the 7-8 November will go on sale in August priced at $360 for a 2 day pass and $200 for a day pass. The two day tournament will feature the men’s and women’s Rio2016 Asia qualification matches.
The men’s tournament is a 12 team event featuring with the men’s winner claiming Asia’s sole automatic slot amongst the 12 teams participating in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where Rugby Sevens will make its much anticipated debut. Competing to be Asia’s representative will be China, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, Iran, Japan, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand
Already qualified for the men’s competition are Fiji, New Zealand, South Africa, Great Britain, USA, Argentina and the hosts Brazil. The remaining five places will be awarded to the winners of regional qualifiers in Europe, Oceania, Africa and the Hong Kong tournament for Asia as well as the winner of a 16-team international repêchage tournament to be held later in the year.
The women’s qualifier is an 8 team event, the first part of a two leg qualification process that culminates in Tokyo on 28-29 November 2015. Teams competing in the women’s event are China, Hong Kong, Japan, Kazakhstan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Uzbekistan.
The winner heading to Rio to join New Zealand, Canada, Australia, Great Britain, Colombia, USA, France and hosts Brazil who have already booked their spots at the 2016 Olympic Games
“The opportunity to participate in an Olympic Games is the ultimate dream for any athlete, and we are totally focused on preparing for the November tournaments,” commented women’s sevens veteran Cheng Ka Chi.
Asia Rugby Sevens Qualifier
Date: 7-8 November, 2015
Venue: HK Stadium
Tickets: $360 (2-day pass), $200 (1-day pass), under 12 free.
More info: Exact details of the ticket buying process have yet to be released
HK Scottish Day
HK Scottish Day
Date: 12:30-6pm, 5 September, 2015
Venue: Kings Park
Tickets: Free
10th Anniversary Central Rat Race
After debuting in 2006, the Central Rat Race has attracted thousands of runners and raised over $21million for charity. The featured charity for the 10th Anniversary race is Mindset. The Rat Race symbolizes the challenges one may face in the business world of the urban jungle where nothing is as easy as it seems.
Four races will be held on the day. The main Central Rat Race, is an 8 rat team relay event where team members carry a briefcase baton across the challenging obstacles of the business world to success. The Big Rat Race, is for individuals to ‘big’ to work in a team. An NGO Rat Race is for NGO staff and guests while the Junior Rat Race which is a series of activities designed for children aged five to ten.
Central Rat Race
Date: 9am, 25 October, 2015
Venue: Central
Tickets: Free to watch, entry $60,000, $20,000
More info: Entry registration is open now www.centralratrace.com
China’s Racist Attack on Hong Kong
This is the poster for China vs Hong Kong (qualification rounds for Russia 2018) from China’s FIFA:
“Don’t underestimate any opponents. People of this team (Hong Kong) have black skin, yellow skin and white skin. Facing a team with ‘SO MANY LAYERS’, we must strengthen our defence a bit!”
The poster emphasises that the Hong Kong team has black, yellow and white skins, “layers” means races and classes.
The HK Football Associations’s rebuttal to China’s racist ad:
“Don’t let others look down on us! Our team has black, yellow, and white skin, but all of us are here to represent Hong Kong. All HKers should support us!”
The hashtag on the bottom reads “Support our own”.
The HKFA refuses to use the “official” name of “Chinese Hong Kong”.
Poster Translation: Real Hong Kong News
Hong Kong Cup of Nations – 13, 17, and 21 November 2015
A new four team round-robin tournament will make it’s debut this November, when Portugal, Russia and Zimbabwe will travel to Hong Kong for the 15-a-side Hong Kong Cup of Nations. The World Rugby-sanctioned competition will feature six matches played over three days.
HKRFU General Manager of Performance Rugby Dai Rees is enthusiastic about the new tournament, saying, “We have been working with World Rugby for a number of years to formalise a competition for Performance 2 and 3 level unions to ensure that we play the number of annual matches recommended by World Rugby for countries that aspire to reach the Rugby World Cup. To reach the recommended seven to ten annual fixtures, we need to combine our Asia Rugby Championships campaign – which is four matches in the spring – with touring or bringing in international teams for home tests in November” said Rees.
Russia is the highest ranked team competing in the Cup of Nations, currently 19th in the World Rugby standings. Portugal is ranked 23 and Zimbabwe is 28. Hong Kong moved up two spots to 25th in the world after finishing second in the Asia Rugby Championship.
“The teams invited to participate in the Cup of Nations are all ranked between 18 and 28 in the world, providing broadly competitive fixtures for Hong Kong. All four teams, including Hong Kong, advanced deep into the 2015 Rugby World Cup qualification process but ultimately didn’t qualify. We want to play against teams just outside of the Rugby World Cup rankings, which is about the top 16 or 18 teams in the world, to engage in meaningful and competitive fixtures,” Rees added.
“From a scheduling standpoint, the rugby calendar will look quite good for Hong Kong with the Cup of Nations giving us another opportunity for intense competition at the beginning of our domestic season and six months on from the Asia Rugby Championship” Rees continued. “We want to push and pressurise ourselves over the coming few years. Having three teams of the calibre of Russia, Portugal and Zimbabwe coming here six months after the Asia Rugby Championship window will help us maintain intensity as we increasingly focus on our high-performance 15s programmes,” said Rees who sees these opportunities as really important for Hong Kong in preparation for the qualification campaign for Rugby World Cup 2019 in Japan.
Match schedules and venues will be announced in due course.
Lets hope that a similar women’s tournament can be arranged on the same dates!
Tanwir Afzal Stars as Hong Kong beat Namibia in Second ODI
Tanwir Afzal takes 5 wickets as Hong Kong thrashed Namibia in the second ICC World Cricket League Championship by 8 wickets with more than 14 overs to spare. Namibia won the toss and chose to bat, but after losing by one wicket in the first ODI Hong Kong’s bowlers were on fire and on the back of Afzal’s wonderful opening spell soon had the hosts at 30/8 after 14 overs. The last two wickets added 79 to leave Hong Kong chasing 110 to win. Small totals can be hard to chase, but Irfan Ahmed’s aggressive batting calmed Hong Kong’s nerves and paved the way for a comfortable win.
Hong Kong set Namibia 195 to Win
Nadeem Ahmed smashed 24 off 12 balls including 18 off the last 5 balls of the innings. Hong Kong took 19 from the last over reach 194/9, setting Namibia 195 to win in this the first match of the ICC World Cricket League Championship, 2015-2016/17.