A warm reception

The Harbin men's ice hockey team (in white) plays Hong Kong at the 12th National Winter Games on Jan 6. Harbin won 17-0. [Photo by Shi Jiamin for China Daily]

Despite a lack of facilities and finances, Hong Kong and Macao are falling for the winter game of ice hockey, Tang Zhe reports from Changchun, Jilin province.

Though located in South China, oftentimes balmy Hong Kong is looking to step up its participation in winter sports. As one of the two delegations from the subtropical south (along with Macao) at China's 12th National Winter Games, which are being staged in the chilly northeast Jilin province from Jan 3-13, Hong Kong has sent 27 athletes to take part in short track speed skating, figure skating, alpine skiing and ice hockey.

Constrained by a mild climate and a shortage of winter sports venues, most of the athletes from Hong Kong train in North China or overseas, except the ice hockey team, which is made up of amateur players who usually come together after work and school.

Facing vastly more experienced northern counterparts, Hong Kong went down 17-0 and 10-1 to teams from Heilongjiang province in its first two matches at the Winter Games.

"All of our 22 players are amateurs. Some of them are students and our team normally trains together for only 1 1/2 hours a week," said Ng Ka-kin, coach of the HK ice hockey team. "There is only one standard ice hockey field in HK, and most of the people choose to play on small fields, which are cheaper."

Kan Yeung-kit, manager of HK ice hockey team, chimed in: "There are a lot of kids playing ice hockey in Hong Kong nowadays, but the lack of an ice rink and training time have greatly hindered the sport's development.

"The continuous rotation of team members also poses difficulties to the team's cooperation and strategy coordination."

A Macao ice hockey player (R) competes against Qiqihar at the 12th National Winter Games on Jan 6, 2012. Qiqihar won 21-0. [Photo/Xinhua]

Despite the limited resources, efforts have been made to push the sport forward and it is enjoying growing popularity in HK.

"Ice hockey is the fastest team sport in the world and it's very exciting," Ng said. "The government has started to inject capital support into ice hockey and there are more children starting to play these days. The average age of our team is 23, and the youngest just turned 15."

Amateur ice hockey leagues are being established in Hong Kong, while the sport is withering in the north. There are 11 ice hockey clubs registered with the Hong Kong Ice Hockey Association. Amateur leagues for men, juniors and women and some summer editions have been launched.

"There are more than 400 adults playing in the senior league, and 400 to 500 children playing the junior league. Along with those who are learning, we have more than 1,000 people playing ice hockey in Hong Kong," said Ng, whose team plays overseas once a year. "All of our players (at the National Winter Games) were selected from our local leagues."

The development of ice hockey in Macao is similar to that in neighboring HK. Half the members of the Macao team are students, while others are ice hockey enthusiasts from different professions. The Macao players usually train together three times a week, with each session lasting about two hours.

"The condition of venues and limited funds, together with Macao's small population, make it difficult to promote ice hockey in Macao," said coach Yan Dong. "But a lot of kids at the age of five and six have started to take part in this sport, and the government is providing more and more support to related programs.

"I believe more people in Macao will discover the charm of ice hockey, and the results of our team will become better and better," Yan said.