Hong Kong China Rowing Association

Hong Kong crews had a successful weekend of racing at the 124th Holland Beker Regatta (Dutch Open Championships) held on the Bosbaan in Amsterdam.

The event is amongst the oldest rowing regattas in Europe, having been founded in 1886 and this year attracted some 560 crews from 21 countries. Two separate competitions are held – one on Saturday (24 June) and one on Sunday (25 June)- allowing teams to try different crew combinations.

The Hong Kong Men’s Lightweight quad (CHIU Hin Chun, TANG Chiu Mang, Kenneth LIU and LEUNG Chun Shek) placed 2nd in the finals on both Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday, a photo finish between three crews saw the Czech team take gold, with Hong Kong just 0.31 seconds behind in 2nd , and a Dutch combination a further 0.33 seconds back in 3rd . With the withdrawal of the Czech crew on Sunday hopes were high for a Hong Kong victory, but an unfortunate lane draw saw them finish second again, this time to the Dutch combination. There was some consolation however as the crew’s time on Saturday was a new Hong Kong record of 5:50.31. The Hong Kong Men’s U.23 quad also placed 5th on Sunday in the same event.

Top Lightweight sculler LEE Ka Man also reached the finals of her event on both days of the regatta placing 3rd on the Saturday and 6th on the Sunday. Another notable result was achieved by the Lightweight Men’s double of WONG Wai Chun and CHAU Yee Ping. The young U.23 combination (WONG is still a junior) finished 2nd overall on the Sunday behind a strong Australian crew, beating a Japanese crew in 3rd and their older team-mates of WONG Wai Kin and YUEN Yun Lam – who finished 4th .

Team members will now move to a joint training camp in Hazewinkel, Belgium on Monday. From this camp, the senior team will move on to the World Cup Regatta in Lucerne, Switzerland whilst the U.23 Team will travel to the World U.23 Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.

Meanwhile, LEE Ka Man has been invited to train with the Dutch team for the next 6 weeks and this will be a great opportunity to train with some of the top female rowers in the world. In Rio, the Dutch women took a gold medal in the lightweight double and silver in the quad and eight.

The Hong Kong, China Rowing Association would like to take this opportunity to wish our Hong Kong Rowing Team has a fruitful journey in Europe.