Volleyball Nations League: China team a big draw in Hong Kong as they put dismal Olympics behind them
- Mainland Chinese players attracting fervent support in the city and could be the team to beat on the court too in the second qualifying event of three
- Chinese squad are in ‘a transition period’ after their lowly ninth place at the Tokyo Games in 2021, coach Cai Bin says
China may have flopped at the Tokyo Olympics, but they are a popular draw in Hong Kong, where the second leg of the women’s Volleyball Nations League begins on Tuesday.
They start their campaign against Canada on the opening day at the Coliseum in Hung Hom, followed by matches against Bulgaria on Friday, then Poland and defending champions Italy over the weekend.
And the head of the Hong Kong Volleyball Association (HKVA) said the mainlanders were proving especially popular among the eight teams in boosting attendance, with tickets for the weekend snapped up shortly after being put up on sale in April. The highest-priced tickets for Tuesday and Friday, at HK$1,200, were also gone.
“Team China are very popular among the volleyball community here and tickets for matches involving them are always in high demand,” said Wilfred Ng Sau-kei, the HKVA president.
Ng said the tournament – also featuring Turkey, Dominican Republic and the Netherlands – cost over HK$20 million to stage, but the organisers hoped to make a profit thanks to the government pledging maximum support from its events fund to the tune of HK$15 million on a dollar-to-dollar matching basis.
