Hong Kong's long-cherished passion for volleyball

Wong Bing Kwan turned on the TV. The news said the city is in its East Asian Games fever and Chinese woman volleyballers won again.

This reminds the 70-year-old Hong Kong citizen of what happened more than 20 years ago: In his small and poorly-ventilated home, six family members were glued to a TV set and watched Chinese volleyballers win one world champion after another -- five in six years.

It was the heyday of Chinese volleyball, a time of huge nationalistic pride for hundreds of millions of people in Chinese mainland. And the frenzy was also shared by Hong Kongers.

"After winning the world champion, the women volleyball team came to Hong Kong to play the Grand Prix. The city is immediately invigorated," said Wong.

Now, more than 20 years later, in the ongoing East Asian Games, China's new generation of volleyballers are once again received by Hong Kong audience the way successful performing artists are, despite that they came only second in Asian Championships three months ago, losing in the final to Thailand which never beat China before.

The arena, Hong Kong Coliseum, witnessed Hong Kong people's love for China's women volleyball team ever since holding the first Grand Prix competition in 1983. "Hong Kong people were very crazy about the event. They packed the stadium every single day ofthe three-day tournament," said Lui Lai Yee, who was the referee back then.

Thanks to the annual event, such passion lives on all the way through the years and found deep roots among local fans, said Lui, adding that Hong Kongers remained supportive in the most troubled years of Chinese volleyball.

Volleyballers' visits to Hong Kong in recent years never failed to cause a sensation in the city. Media lavishly reported each of their outings for shopping, local amateur players sought their autographs and fans waited for hours just for a ticket that offered a glimpse of their daily practice.

According to government statistics, about one third of TV audience of Hong Kong, about 2.1 million, watched volleyball competition of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games when China's women volleyball team was in play.

Now Hong Kongers are passing down the undying love for volleyball to their offspring. "The young fans are inheriting their parents' volleyball gene," said Lui.

In addition, young fans are exploring new ways to show their passion, say, by idolatry. Chinese spiker Wang Yimei was one of Hong Kong's favorites. In the preliminary round of East Asian Games, she spent most of the time on the bench, but her only performance, a serve, won her unexpected cheers and applause in the well-packed stadium.

"I sensed what the audience intended to convey. Next time, I will let her on earlier," said Chinese coach Cai Bin.

Source: Xinhua