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HONG KONG, CHINA ROWING ASSOCIATION
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With the mission of developing and promoting rowing, the Hong Kong Amateur Rowing Association was established in 1978. Following the reunification of Hong Kong with China, the Association was renamed as Hong Kong, China Rowing Association.
The Association operates two boathouses along the Shatin Shing Mun River. They are Sha Tin Rowing Centre, which is located at Fo Tan, and Jockey Club Shek Mun Rowing Centre, which is located at Shek Mun. The latter has been in operation since early 2002.
Hong Kong has been, in fact, in a leading position in rowing among the Asian countries. Several major Asian rowing events have been hosted by the Association, namely, the 1st Asian Rowing Championships, the 1st and 2nd Asian Machine Rowing Championships. The Association will host the 9th Asian Junior Championships in late 2003.
Since its formation, the Association has put enormous effort into the development of local rowing athletes. Many Hong Kong rowers have achieved excellent results at the regional and international events time including winning medals in the Asian Games and East Asian Games. Ho Kim Fai was the first rower who has won a medal for Hong Kong in 1994 Asian Games and Fenella Ng was the first athlete to reach a senior World Championship final in 1998. Both rowers were also Olympians. The first-ever world medal for Hong Kong was won by Law Hiu Fung at the 2003 FISA World Under 23 Championships.
A great deal of development has also taken place among local rowing clubs, especially the universities. The rowing teams of the six existing Universities have their own systematic training programme. They train seriously throughout the rowing season and aim to win medals at the annual Universities Championships. In addition, the annual Hong Kong Intervarsity Championship is a well-known and traditional rowing event contested by the Hong Kong University and Chinese University of Hong Kong.
In order to develop and promote youth rowing, the coaching team of the Association continues to visit schools every year to promote rowing and scout for new talent. Teenagers identified as having good potential are then provided with more extensive formal training. Law Hiu Fung and Yung Ka Yan are good sample of this development programme. At the same time, schools are encouraged to form their own school rowing teams and are provided with regular training. These school teams are encouraged to take part in the Association’s regular competitions.
In recent years, indoor rowing (or machine rowing) has been developed internationally and regionally as a new discipline of sport. The Association holds several indoor rowing events every year and the number of participants has been increasing rapidly. A growing number of Hong Kong schools, clubs and fitness centres are being equipped with indoor rowing machines for health and fitness training. Many of these are used to train competitors for indoor rowing competitions.
In 2003, the Association celebrates the 25th anniversary of its founding. As a part of the celebrations the Association will host the 9th Asian Junior Rowing Championships for the first time in Hong Kong. It is an important and historic year for the Association!
* Information & photos provided by the National Sports Association
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