Chairman of the Hong Kong Ski Federation: Be sure to let the Hong Kong team and national team of China take a picture of the national flag at the Winter Olympics

At the upcoming Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, the Hong Kong delegation will send three athletes to compete, namely alpine skiers Jin Hexiao and Weng Houquan, and short-track speed skater Zhu Dingwen. This is the largest number of participants in the Previous Winter Olympics by the Hong Kong delegation. Yu Guoxian, chairman of the Hong Kong Ski Federation, revealed in an interview with the Global Times reporter on the 25th that two Hong Kong skiers will arrive in Beijing on the 30th of this month and practice with the national team. "At the Beijing Winter Olympics, I must do one thing, let Hong Kong athletes and national team athletes stand together with the national flag and the district flag and take a group photo." Yu Guoxian said: "No matter where Hong Kong athletes train and where they study, they are all Hong Kong people and Chinese. ”

Yu Guoxian told the Global Times reporter that Jin Hexiao and Weng Houquan are still training in Bosnia and will train with the Chinese national team and adapt to the venue after arriving in Beijing on the 30th. Among them, 17-year-old Weng Houquan will participate in the men's alpine skiing slalom and giant slalom events, and is the first male athlete in Hong Kong to participate in the alpine skiing event of the Winter Olympics. Yu Guoxian said that Weng Houquan has been in good shape recently, but does not want to put too much pressure on him, and the goal is to strive for the top 30. At the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics, Ng became the first alpine skier to represent Hong Kong and finished 56th in the Giant Slalom event.

Referring to the record number of participants in the Winter Olympics of the Hong Kong Ski Team, Yu Guoxian, who has been the president of the Hong Kong Ski Federation for nearly 20 years, said that he was very excited: "Since 2015, when Beijing successfully bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics, we hope to participate in this event, especially our athletes can participate in alpine skiing and freestyle skiing", Yu Guoxian said, in the past 5 years, Hong Kong athletes have run east and west, participated in competitions, and competed for points. Taking Weng Houquan as an example, he deliberately suspended his school for 2 years and went all out to prepare for the Winter Olympics.

"Hong Kong is a place without snow, and before that, people may go to the United States and Europe to travel skiing, but this is two different things from competitive competitions," said Yu Guoxian, who has always hoped that Winter Sports in Hong Kong can be more professional, and he is also happy that Hong Kong athletes can step by step from regional competitions to the Winter Olympic stage.

During the period when Hong Kong athletes are competing for tickets to the Winter Olympics, the mainland, which has an increasingly mature ice and snow industry, has become their first choice for exchange and training. Yu Guoxian told the Global Times that the Hong Kong Ski Federation has signed training agreements with some ski bases in the mainland and a framework agreement with the State General Administration of Sport. Yu guoxian said that the northeast is where Hong Kong athletes concentrate on skiing and skating training, and some athletes' northeastern accents are also learned there.

Recently, the video of Zhu Dingwen, the only ice athlete in the Hong Kong team in China, who took a bite of the "big ballast flavor" at the Winter Olympics, was widely disseminated on mainland social media, and he was also called "Northeast Dialect Level 10" by netizens. Yu Guoxian said that Hong Kong is an international city, although some athletes may have been born abroad or studied abroad, but they are all Hong Kong people, they are all Chinese.

"Cultural and sports exchanges are very important for the mainland and Hong Kong to deepen mutual understanding, and Hong Kong is also paying more and more attention to the Winter Olympics," Yu Guoxian told the Global Times reporter, Hong Kong TVB will broadcast Winter Olympic programs on 5 channels, "I also hope that Hong Kong people can cheer for Hong Kong athletes and athletes of the motherland through radio waves." ”

Yu Guoxian said that at the Beijing Winter Olympics, he must let the Athletes of the Hong Kong Team and the National Team hold up the five-star red flag and the flag of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region together, just like the table tennis field of the Tokyo Olympic Games. After the final of the women's table tennis team at the Tokyo Olympic Games in August 2021, the group photo of the Chinese national team and the Hong Kong team holding the national flag and the district flag touched netizens in the two places.