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Following is a question by the Hon Frederick Fung and a written reply by the Secretary for Home Affairs, Dr Patrick Ho, in the Legislative Council today (November 9):
Question:
It has been reported that there were cases of match-fixing and the use of forbidden drugs by athletes in the 10th National Games. A player of the Hong Kong badminton team was wrongly ruled several times by the umpire in the Women's Singles Semi Final match and subsequently lost in the match, which seriously affected her performance in the remaining matches. She later gave up early in the match for the bronze medal in that event in protest of the unfair umpiring. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) whether it has enquired about the truth of above incident involving Hong Kong athletes; if the incident is true, whether it has discussed with the Mainland authorities and lodged a complaint so as to uphold the spirit of fair play and doing one's best to win in sports competitions; if it has not discussed or complained, the reasons for that, and whether it is partly attributable to the Hong Kong authorities' tolerance of such match-fixing activities;
(b) whether it has assessed the impacts of the incident on Hong Kong's athletes and the future development of sports; and
(c) of the measures to prevent match-fixing and the use of forbidden drugs in sports competitions to be held in Hong Kong (e.g. the equestrian events in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and the East Asian Games), in order to ensure that these competitions will be held in a fair and impartial manner?
Reply:
Madam President,
Our response to the question asked by the Hon Frederick Fung is as follows:
(a) The Organising Committee of the HKSAR Delegation to the 10th National Games (the Organising Committee) is responsible for the overall coordination with the respective National Sports Associations in Hong Kong to form the Delegation for taking part in the selected sports events in the 10th National Games. We have enquired with the Hong Kong Badminton Association (HKBA) about this incident. The HKBA revealed that after the Women's Singles' match in question, the coach of the Hong Kong team had lodged a verbal complaint to the organiser on the spot about the judgment. The organiser did not accept the complaint and upheld the match result. The HK team accepted the decision of the organiser and, in accordance with the usual practice, continued with the remaining competitions in the National Games. The badminton team had exercised their rights by lodging a complaint about this particular case although the complaint was eventually not accepted.
(b) This is an isolated incident and should not have any adverse impact on our future sports development nor our athletes. In fact, the HKSAR badminton team has resumed normal training and has continued to take part in other international competitions after the 10th National Games.
(c) To promote the Olympic spirit of fair play and to ensure a high standard of refereeing, international sports federations or regional sports federations would arrange for well respected and experienced referees to adjudicate at major international sports competitions. Moreover, referees and competition personnel are required to take an oath before the spectators that they will respect and follow all the rules and discharge their duties fairly and impartially in the spirit of true sportsmanship.
To further prevent athletes from taking prohibited drugs, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) (an international body with participation of the International Olympic Committee) was set up in 1999. The WADA has since played an effective role in the fight against doping in sport. It is now a practice for major international sports competitions to have anti-doping departments to tackle doping practice. Similar arrangements will be adopted in the Equestrian Events of the 2008 Olympics and Paralympics as well as the 5th East Asian Games in 2009.
Ends/Wednesday, November 9, 2005
Issued at HKT 12:54
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