Hong Kong Triathlon Coach Criticizes Misallocation of Taxpayer-Funded Sports Support

As a whopping 580-strong Hong Kong squad prepares to go to this month’s Asian Games on the taxpayers’ dime, one of the city’s leading coaches has said that cash is being squandered on athletes who have no right to generous financial backing.

While not pointing the finger in any specific direction, Andrew Wright, the Hong Kong triathlon head coach, said sports bodies in the city “set the bar pretty low … which breeds a non-high performance environment”.

“What also frustrates me is the amount of money people are given that they haven’t earned,” he said. “It’s enabling in a way.”

Underlining that cash does not necessarily buy ambition, a Hong Kong Sports Institute (HKSI) spokeswoman said that in a “highly competitive” sporting world “while medals are a natural aspiration, success is defined more broadly”.

An elite athletes development fund that was established in 2012, using HK$700 million (around US$89.2 million) of taxpayers’ money, funnelled HK$982 million to HKSI for the 2025-26 period, a 4.3 per cent increase on the amount gifted in the previous 12 months.

John Lee Ka-chiu, the Hong Kong chief executive who last week challenged the city’s athletes in Japan to improve on their record 53-medal haul from the 2023 Games, is likely to cover sports development in the city in his annual policy address next week.