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Ten junior athletes were honoured with the ZESPRI^® Outstanding Junior Athlete Awards (OJAA) and were happy to receive blessings from their teammates, coaches and parents today at the Hong Kong Sports Institute (HKSI).  In addition, four athletes were thrilled for being selected to join the second ZESPRI^® Cultural Exchange Tour, bound for New Zealand in early April.  

Organised by the HKSI and sponsored by ZESPRI^®, the world’s largest exporter of a premium brand of New Zealand kiwifruit, the OJAA presentation ceremony for the 4^th quarter of 2010 was held today to recognise athletes’ hard work and excellent performance.

In this quarter, a total of 10 athletes won the title, including Lee Cheuk-yiu and Ng Ka-long (badminton), Cheng Hiu-wai (fencing), Chiu Chung-hei and Lee Ho-ching (table tennis), Lo Sin-lam (windsurfing), Mok Uen-ying and Wong Chun-wai (wushu), Mok Chi-sing and Wan Kwok-ho (table tennis – Hong Kong Sports Association for the Mentally Handicapped, HKSAM). 

Officiating guests were Dr Trisha Leahy, Chief Executive of the HKSI; Tony Yue, Vice President of the Sports Federation & Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, China (SF&OC); and Raymond Chiu, Vice-Chairman of the Hong Kong Sports Press Association (HKSPA).  In addition, some head coaches including He Yiming (badminton), Yu Liguang (wushu) and table tennis coach for athletes with disability Cui Xiaoyan, as well as athletes Cheung Siu-lun (fencing) and Jiang Huajun (table tennis) were also invited as special guests in support of the junior athletes. 

Many winners got excellent performance in this quarter.  Fencer Cheng Hiu-wai participated in the Guangzhou 2010 Asian Games (AG) last November and got her first bronze medal in the women’s foil team in a Major Games.  She said, “That was a very impressive competition and I was thrilled to win the bronze medal.  I hope to represent Hong Kong again in the next AG in 2014 and win medals again.” Cheng will participate in the Asian Junior Fencing Championships in early March.

Table Tennis players Chiu Chung-hei and Lee Ho-ching were not debut winners.  Chiu won the Award in the 3^rd quarter of 2009 while Lee got it three times in the 4^th quarter of 2005, the 2^nd quarter of 2006 and the 4^th quarter of 2009.  Chiu and Lee got 1 silver medal in the junior boys’ and girls’ singles respectively at the ITTF Global Junior Circuit Finals last November.  Just having finished the school examination, Chiu will take a short break in the Chinese Lunar New Year and will resume training after.  He has also set a target for 2011, “Over the last year I have been brushing up my skills and strengthening my mind-set, but there are still rooms for improvement in adopting different strategies.  Yet I’m confident to further go up in the world junior ranking; and I target to get a place in top 10 in 2011.” Teammate Lee said, “I’m very happy to win the title again.  Ever since I became a full-time player after completing Form Three, I have been working hard on the sport.  The Award gives me encouragement and lets me know that I’m going on the right track.”

Wushu athletes Mok Uen-ying and Wong Chun-wai both won the Awards by becoming champions in the women’s 24 forms taijiquan and men’s nanquan A respectively at the 3^rd World Junior Wushu Championships 2010 last December.  Both of them love the sport so much and they have different role models to follow.  “I hope to have outstanding achievement like Li Fai who had not only won many medals in international competitions, but also established her wushu school and helps promote the sport to the public,” Mok said.  “I like all the movies acted by wushu star Jet Li and I admire him very much.  He inspires me to work harder,” Wong said. 

In addition, Lui Pan-to (speed skating) and Kwong Feng (finswimming) were also awarded Certificates of Merit for breaking the Hong Kong record in ISU World Cup 2010/2011 and 2010 Hong Kong Summer Finswimming Open Competition respectively.

Also at the presentation ceremony, four athletes who were awardees of 2010 – Chiu Chung-hei (table tennis), Man Ka-kei (windsurfing), Mok Uen-ying and Wong Chun-wai (wushu) – were selected to participate in the ZESPRI^® 2010 New Zealand Cultural Exchange Tour to be held in April.  Having heard the fruitful experience on the exchange tour from his teammate last year, Wong was excited to visit New Zealand as soon as possible.  “I hope to visit the sports facilities and meet some local athletes,” said Wong.  Man added, “I often travel to different countries for competitions but have no chance to learn more about those countries.  It must be very interesting to visit the ZESPRI^® kiwifruit packhouse and understand how this nutritious fruit is nurtured.”

The ZESPRI^® Outstanding Junior Athlete Awards is organised by the HKSI and sponsored by ZESPRI^® for the second consecutive year, with support from the SF&OC and the HKSPA.  They recognise the achievements of outstanding local junior athletes under the age of 19 on a quarterly basis.  Each recipient is presented with a cash prize of HK$2,500, a voucher worth HK$2,500 and a certificate.

Awardees’ Achievements in the 4^th Quarter of 2010 and List of Awardees for the ZESPRI^® 2010 New Zealand Cultural Exchange Tour (PDF)