Hong Kong announces shortlisted teams for Asian Games
The Hong Kong Cricket Association (HKCA) has shortlisted a squad of twenty players for both the men's and women's teams for the upcoming Asian Games in November 2010 in Guangzhou. The final 15 will be selected at the end of August.
Most players in both teams have already played in previous ACC tournaments. HKCA has also selected local Chinese players from their recruitment camps. The men's team features many players who have represented Hong Kong previously at age-group and senior ACC tournaments. Hong Kong won the ACC Trophy Elite 2008 and the ACC U19 Elite Cup 2009, participated at this year's ICC U19 Cricket World Cup 2010 and finished third at the ACC Trophy Elite 2010.
Men's Squad:
James Atkinson
Shakeel Haq
Niaz Ali
Aizaz Khan
Vikash Vaswani
Asif Khan
Irfan Ahmed
Nadeem Ahmed
Najeeb Amar
Ilyas Gul
Roy Lamsam
Alex Smith
Khalid Khan
Nick Lau
Jason Lui
Zafaran Ali
Lai Kai Ming
Chan Ka Ming
Siegfried Wai
Sean Brierly
HKCA General Manager Danny Lai said: "Eligibility of players is the main concern for our teams. The majority of our men's team are Hong Kong passport holders while the others have been born in Hong Kong."
The Hong Kong women's team has performed well at ACC tournaments. They were winners of the ACC Women's Twenty20 Championship 2009, semi-finalists at the ACC U19 Women's Championship 2008 and semi-finalists at the ACC Women's Tournament 2007 losing to eventual winners Bangladesh.
Some of Hong Kong's players who have played in previous ACC tournaments are not eligible for the Asian Games being expatriates. The recruitment camps were successful as close to 50 players have emerged from them. Mr. Lai said: "The players from the camps are undergoing intensive training and we are hopeful that some can make it into the squad. The idea is to also strengthen the existing base of cricket and we are happy with the results. We are looking to make this a policy for the future of Hong Kong cricket - to get more local people playing for the national teams."
Women's Squad:
Keenu Gill
Betty Chan
Annie Ho
Chan Sau Ha
Anastasia Yip
Connie Wong
Godiva Li
Amanda Kwok
Mariko Hill
Jaswinder Kaur
Kristine Wong
Ishitaa Gidwani
Smita Chhetri
Yasmin Daswani
Manpreet Kaur
Janet Cheung
Alvina Tam
Iris Tse
Carrie Cheung
Virginia Wong
Natural Yip
Yoyo Kwok
Hong Kong has been training under new coach Charles Burke since May and are one of six teams so far to confirm their participation in either the men's or women's event. Bangladesh, China, Malaysia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka will be fielding men's and women's teams while Thailand and Japan have confirmed a team for the women's event.