Hong Kong boxer Rex Tso’s Olympic dreams dashed after Paris qualifiers cancelled
- The former unbeaten professional is hoping to become the first Hong Kong boxer to compete at an Olympics in 57 years
- The southpaw’s world ranking is not good enough to earn automatic qualification for Tokyo
Rex Tso Sing-yu’s dreams of becoming the first Hong Kong boxer to compete at an Olympic Games in 57 years have all but evaporated after the International Olympic Committee cancelled the Paris world qualifiers because of Covid-19.
The 33-year-old Tso, a former unbeaten super flyweight professional with an impressive 22-0 (13 KOs) record, was hoping to compete at the Paris World Qualifying Event in June. But that event, considered the last chance for the “Wonder Kid” to punch his ticket to Tokyo in the summer, has been axed because of the logistical challenge of boxers travelling to Paris.
The IOC said on Tuesday that plans were changed because of “current challenges to international travel and related restrictions in many countries” during the coronavirus pandemic.
The IOC still intends to hold an Americas tournament, scheduled for May 10-16 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and the European qualifiers are scheduled to be held in June at a venue to be decided.
Boxers worldwide were to compete for 53 places (32 for men and 21 for women) for the Tokyo Games in Paris. With the tournament now cancelled, the IOC decided that places will be allocated equally across continents by world rankings based on results since 2017.
“Rex’s amateur ranking is outside the world’s top 30, which doesn’t qualify him for Tokyo,” said Hong Kong Boxing Association sports executive Alex Yeung. “We are still awaiting official confirmation from the Hong Kong Olympic Committee as to whether the Paris qualifiers are definitely cancelled. We will probably get written notification from them by mid March.”
Tso has competed in just one tournament over the past 11 months because of the pandemic, so he has been unable to improve his world ranking.
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“He only competed in the Asia-Oceania qualifiers in Amman [Jordan] last March and he has been an amateur boxer since 2018. He hasn’t been an amateur [boxer] long enough to pick up points,” explained Yeung.
The Paris tournament was supposed to be Tso’s lifeline at qualifying for Tokyo after the bantamweight failed to obtain his ticket last year in Amman, where he lost two straight bouts.
Tso said he was disappointed the Paris qualifiers had been cancelled but will “continue to train” with other major competitions to look forward to in the future.
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“We still don’t know for sure whether the Tokyo Olympics will be cancelled or not. It’s still up in the air. But even if I don’t qualify for Tokyo, I still intend to compete in other major competitions, such as the Asian Games in Hangzhou [in 2022]. I will keep up my training and continue boxing,” said the southpaw boxer.
Tso was hoping to become the first Hong Kong boxer since Law Hon-pak and Lee Kam-wah represented the then colony at the 1964 Tokyo Games.
