By South China Morning Post | Created at 2024-12-19 00:36:37 | Updated at 2024-12-19 04:12:14
3 hours ago
The parents of a young skateboarding athlete have claimed they paid more than HK$100,000 to a group that said it could get her to the Olympics, only to discover it had no official standing in Hong Kong.
Speaking at a press conference alongside sports sector lawmaker Kenneth Fok Kai-kong on Wednesday, the teenager’s father, surnamed Su, said he had signed a five-year contract in 2021 with the China Hong Kong Skateboarding Federation because of this belief.
Su also claimed that when he tried to break the contract, the federation demanded HK$300,000 in compensation and threatened to stop the girl from skating for a year if they did not get the money.
While the father said he did not report the matter to police to spare his daughter any further anguish, lawyers acting for both sides resolved the dispute in July.
“In the conversation between myself and the so-called chairman of the association, he told me that he does have the authorisation to nominate my daughter to participate in the Asian Games and even the Olympic Games,” Su said. “This is one of the main reasons why I signed that five-year contract.”
But Reeve Tsui Yin-lung, the federation’s president and head coach, denied taking money from the family, or promising to ensure the teenager would reach the Games.
