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Texting Carrie Lam: how Marco Fu raised snooker’s multimillion-dollar question with Hong Kong leader

  • Quarantined ace opts for a direct approach to grab the attention of the city’s chief executive, who acknowledges Fu’s message in Facebook post
  • Cue sports could lose 80 per cent of their funding from 2023, with grants to players halved, governing body says

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Carrie Lam posted a photo of herself with Marco Fu on Facebook as she discussed sports funding. Photo: Facebook
Not many people can claim to have a head of government’s digits in their phone contacts, but Marco Fu Ka-chun is one.
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor has said she was alerted to a financial crisis for snooker when she received a text message about it from the city’s most famous player.
Cue sports face losing most of their public funding from next year, slashing support to players including three-time ranking event winner Fu and three-time women’s world champion Ng On-yee – a point made to Hong Kong’s leader when Fu contacted her personally.

“I received a text message from Marco Fu,” Lam said in a Facebook post that discussed funding of Hong Kong sports.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam (centre) meets Hong Kong’s leading snooker players Marcu Fu and Ng On-yee. Photo: Facebook
Chief Executive Carrie Lam (centre) meets Hong Kong’s leading snooker players Marcu Fu and Ng On-yee. Photo: Facebook
Fu was in quarantine at a hotel in Hong Kong after travelling to the UK to take part in the World Championship, in which he has twice been a semi-finalist. He bowed out in the qualifying stages, but has returned home to arguably a sterner test, with cue sports in danger of losing Tier A status under the Hong Kong Sports Institute (HKSI).
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