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
“I received a text message from Marco Fu,” Lam said in a Facebook post that discussed funding of Hong Kong sports.
The rules state that, to avoid demotion to Tier B next April, a sport must have featured in, or expect to feature in, at least three Asian or Olympic Games between 2010 and 2030.
The Hong Kong Billiard Sports Control Council (HKBSCC) sent a letter on April 8 to the Home Affairs Bureau’s Sports Commission, copied to Lam, urging it to reconsider or extend until 2026 billiard sports’ Tier A status, held since 2009.
Fu, who had knowledge of the letter, followed up with a personal message to Lam to ensure she had received it. He and Lam have met a number of times, and one of Lam’s sons is a fan of Fu who has watched him play on many occasions in the UK.
“We are very grateful to Marco – it’s mainly because of Marco’s message that Carrie Lam found out about billiard sports,” said Vincent Law Wing-chung, the HKBSCC chairman. “We didn’t ask Marco to talk to her.”
Law said Lam had replied saying that she would speak to the bureau.
In the meantime, the HKBSCC is to campaign for inclusion in the Nagoya Games, including a “rescue coalition” on social media to appeal to cue sports aficionados across Asia.
Billiards and snooker were part of the Asian Games four times in a row from 1998 to 2010, with Fu leading Hong Kong’s haul of four gold, three silver and three bronze medals.
“I hope we get as much attention as possible,” Law said of the campaign. “If cue sports are downgraded to Tier B, we will lose 80 per cent of our funding, which amounts to millions of dollars, while players will lose 50 to 60 per cent of their training grants, in addition to training and logistical support.”
The HKSI’s 20 Tier A sports are entitled to financial support and use of the world-class facilities at its Fo Tan campus.
There are 39 funded players in cue sports, in elite and junior categories. Including Fu and Ng, 13 players receive elite monthly funding of HK$32,700 to HK$38,540 (US$4,000 to US$5,000). Demotion to Tier B would roughly halve this.
Law described Lam’s Facebook post, in which she said she hoped to see cue sports return to the Asian Games, as “a positive response as well as a hint to push us to act as quickly as feasible”.
“It’s an issue of urgency, like a tough fight on the baize,” he said. “We can’t control the outcome, but we’ll do everything we can to win this battle.”
