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Online Recognition for Outstanding Sports Coaches at 2020 and 2021 Jockey Club Hong Kong Coaching Awards

13 August 2022

The Coach of the Year Awards were presented to fencing coach Gregory Koenig, para badminton (physical disability) coach Liew Nammin, table tennis coach Li Ching, boccia coach Kwok Hart-wing, athletics coach Szeto Man-ho, and para table tennis (physical disability) coaches Zhang Jia and Dong Yuchen. Read More

<span style="font-size:83%;">Officiating guests Mr Kevin Yeung

Officiating guests Mr Kevin Yeung Yun-hung GBS JP, Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism; Dr Gabriel Leung GBS JP, Executive Director, Charities and Community, The Hong Kong Jockey Club; and Mr Tony Yue Kwok-leung BBS MH JP, Chairman of the Hong Kong Coaching Committee (HKCC) delivered speeches at the ceremony. Together with the HKCC members from different organisations, they congratulated the awardees and expressed gratitude to all coaches in Hong Kong for their contributions in 2020 and 2021. Read More

A video recorded the precious moments of coaches and athletes was played during the presentation ceremony to pay tribute to coaches for their unremitting efforts. Read More

The Distinguished Services Award for Coaching was acknowledged to rowing coach Chris Perry and para tenpin bowling coach Cheung Wing-kit, while the Coach Education Award was presented to dragon boat coach Li Yuen-sze. Read More

Organised by the Hong Kong Coaching Committee (HKCC), the 2020 and 2021 Jockey Club Hong Kong Coaching Awards Presentation Ceremony was held online (Facebook/YouTube) to recognise the dedication of coaches in nurturing Hong Kong athletes to excel at regional and international competitions, and their contributions in the development of sports across community and school levels in 2020 and 2021.

This year, a total of 156 nominations were received, and a list of 124 awardees was unveiled at the ceremony covering six categories, namely Coach of the Year Awards, Distinguished Services Award for Coaching, Coach Education Award, Coaching Excellence Awards, Community Coach Recognition Awards and School Coach Recognition Awards.

Mr Kevin Yeung Yun-hung GBS JP, Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism; Dr Gabriel Leung GBS JP, Executive Director, Charities and Community, The Hong Kong Jockey Club; and Mr Tony Yue Kwok-leung BBS MH JP, Chairman of the HKCC, officiated at the presentation ceremony.

Mr Yue Kwok-leung BBS MH JP expressed his appreciation for the contributions of the coaches in his welcoming speech. He said, “Hong Kong won a historic 1 gold, 2 silver and 3 bronze medals at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, followed by 2 silver and 3 bronze medals at the Paralympic Games, and 12 gold, 1 silver and 11 bronze medals at the National Games and National Games for Persons with Disabilities. These commendable achievements are due not only to the athletes’ never-ending efforts in training but also to the careful nurturing and support of the coaches who play a significant role in developing the athletes’ career.” He also expressed his sincerest gratitude to coaches in their involvements in the community and schools which has contributed greatly to the sports development in Hong Kong. The HKCC members coming from different organisations also congratulated and thanked all the coaches.

Mr Kevin Yeung Yun-hung GBS JP, Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism, said, “Coaches’ commitment and teamwork are the key behind athletes’ successes. During the pandemic, coaches and athletes have to be resilient in managing changes in competitions by adjusting their training plans constantly in order to ensure athletes perform at their best.” He added that the Hangzhou Asian Games scheduled to be held this year had been postponed to September and October 2023 and the Government would continue to support the Hong Kong teams in their preparation of the Games and other major international competitions. The Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau will explore ways to enhance professionalism in the sports sector, develop sports as an industry, and train more professional coaches.

Dr Gabriel Leung GBS JP, Executive Director, Charities and Community, The Hong Kong Jockey Club praised coaches for their devotion to promoting sports in the city and helping Hong Kong athletes achieve outstanding results at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and the 14^th National Games. He said, “Coaches play an important role in training athletes and the broader community, through which they inspire the public to cultivate a lifelong sporting habit. The Club’s support for these awards reflects our strong commitment to promoting a healthy community for all, which is one of the key focus areas of our Charities Trust. I especially commend coaches and athletes for their indomitable spirit during the pandemic, adapting their coaching and training strategies to ensure that they can still deliver outstanding performance.”

The Coach of the Year Awards (COY) has always been the highlight of the presentation ceremony. The list of awardees concluded as follows: fencing coach Gregory Koenig and para badminton (physical disability) coach Liew Nammin in the senior athletes - individual sport category; table tennis coach Li Ching and boccia coach Kwok Hart-wing in the senior athletes, team event category, athletics coach Szeto Man-ho and para table tennis (physical disability) coach Zhang Jia in the junior athletes, individual sport category; while para table tennis (physical disability) coach Dong Yuchen in the junior athletes, team event category.

Coach Gregory Koenig was awarded the COY title for the first time. Under his leadership, Cheung Ka-long won a gold medal in the men's foil individual event at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games (Olympics), capturing the second Olympic gold for Hong Kong.

Coach Liew Nammin has been awarded the COY title for two consecutive terms since 2019. Under his guidance, Chu Man-kai and Chan Ho-yuen won silver and bronze respectively in the newly added badminton event at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games (Paralympics).

Coach Li Ching won his debut COY title by coaching Doo Hoi-kem, Lee Ho-ching and Soo Wai-yam to win a bronze medal in the table tennis women’s team event at the Tokyo Olympics, bringing home the first-ever Olympic women’s team medal.

Coach Kwok Hart-wing has been awarded the COY title for the fourth time since 2014. He led Lau Wai-yan, Leung Yuk-wing and Wong Kwan-hang to win silver in the mixed BC4 pairs event at the Tokyo Paralympics.

Coach Szeto Man-ho, who led Cheung Siu-hang to become the first Hong Kong athlete to enter the men's 110m hurdles finals at the World Athletics U20 Championships and break the Hong Kong record thrice during the competition, was awarded his first COY title.

Coach Zhang Jia was also named the COY title for the first time. Under his leadership, the table tennis team won 2 gold and 4 bronze medals in individual events at the Bahrain 2021 Asian Youth Para Games (AYPG).

Coach Dong Yuchen led the table tennis team to capture 1 silver and 2 bronze medals in team events at the AYPG, winning himself the first COY title.

Distinguished Services Award for Coaching was acknowledged to rowing coach Chris Perry and para tenpin bowling (physical disability) coach Cheung Wing-kit for their untiring service to their sports for over a decade. Coach Chris Perry is the former Head Rowing Coach at the HKSI who had been coaching the Hong Kong team for 36 years. He led the team to compete in Major Games including the Olympic Games and the Asian Games, as well as international competitions, winning over 150 medals.

Under the leadership of Coach Cheung Wing-kit, the head para tenpin bowling coach, for over 15 years, para tenpin bowling had been developed from an interest class to elite para sports. He strived to enhance athletes’ technique and had achieved continued success on the world stage.

Coach Education Award went to dragon boat coach Li Yuen-sze, who has been dedicating to promoting the training and development of dragon boat coaches. She started from scratch a Hong Kong-based training pathway structure, curriculum framework, syllabus and assessment criteria.

A total of 53 coaches were awarded the Coaching Excellence Awards for leading athletes or sports teams to achieve outstanding results at international competitions in 2020 and 2021, whilst 35 coaches received the Community Coach Recognition Awards to recognise their contributions to the community. In addition, 26 full-time teachers were presented the School Coach Recognition Awards to acknowledge their effort at the local school level.

The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust funded HKCC’s programmes with a donation of over HK$24 million since November 2015. The programmes include the Jockey Club Elite Coaching Development Programmes; the Jockey Club Coaching Accreditation Programmes; and the Jockey Club Community Education and Coach Recognition Programmes to further support the career development of coaches. The annual Jockey Club Hong Kong Coaching Awards falls into the Jockey Club Community Education and Coach Recognition Programmes, which recognises coaches’ contribution to athlete training and development in Hong Kong.

The Jockey Club Hong Kong Coaching Awards is organised by the HKCC, a joint committee of the Sports Federation & Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, China and the HKSI, which was established in 1991 with the aims of formulating and implementing short-term and long-term strategies for the development of coach education and accreditation programmes in Hong Kong. Over the years, more than 96,500 participants have benefited from the Programme.

For the list of recipients for the 2020 and 2021 Jockey Club Hong Kong Coaching Awards, please click here. For the past recipients, please click here.

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