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Six elite athletes embark on their studies at HKBU

16 Aug 2022

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Professor Alexander Wai (first left) and Dr Albert Chau (first right) present the official T-shirt of HKBU’s sports team to the six elite athletes, namely (from second left) Kwan Man-ho, Shak Kam-ching, Cheung Ka-long, Forrest Shanna Sanman, Lau Chi-lung and Kwok Chun-hei.
Foil fencer Cheung Ka-long won the Gold medal in the Men’s Foil Individual at the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games and the Gold medal in the Men’s Individual Foil at the International Fencing Federation World Cup in 2022.
Rugby player Forrest Shanna Sanman won the Championship in the 2019 MBP J-KRS Ladies Sevens Tournament, and came 3rd in the 2021 Monaco Sevens Tournament, Olympic Repechage.
Table tennis player Kwan Man-ho was the 1st runner-up in the Men’s Doubles in the 2019 ITTF Challenge Indonesia Open, and won the Men’s Singles championship in the 2020 Hong Kong Table Tennis Championship.
Swimmer Kwok Chun-hei was the winner of the 200m Butterfly in the 54th Milo/Pram Malaysia Invitational Age Group Swimming Championship in 2018, and the 1st runner-up of the 4x100m Medley in the 10th Asian Age Group Championships in 2019.
Wushu athlete Lau Chi-lung was the 1st runner-up in the Men’s Nanquan in the 15th World Wushu Championships in 2018, and he won the Gold medal in the Wushu Men’s Nanquan in the 2019 Chungju World Martial Arts Masterships.
Track sprinter Shak Kam-ching is ranked 1st in the Hong Kong Men’s 200m and 3rd in the Hong Kong Men’s 100m. He also broke the Hong Kong junior record in the 4x100m & 4x200m Relay in the 2nd All China Youth National Games (U20) in 2019.

 

Six elite Hong Kong athletes enrol at HKBU through its Talented Athletes Direct Admission Scheme (TADAS) launched earlier this year. They are Olympic gold medallist fencer Cheung Ka-long, rugby player Forrest Shanna Sanman, table tennis player Kwan Man-ho, swimmer Kwok Chun-hei, Wushu athlete Lau Chi-lung, and track sprinter Shak Kam-ching. The athletes have been admitted to the Physical Education and Recreation Management programme offered by the Department of Sport, Physical Education and Health.

HKBU is dedicated to providing full support to Hong Kong athletes and the city’s development of sport. Over the years, the University has been conducting sport science research, and it offers comprehensive and diversified sport science and management programmes to nurture sporting talent in Hong Kong. The University established the Elite Athletes Admission Scheme in 2016 to offer flexible study arrangements for full-time athletes in Hong Kong.

Professor Alexander Wai, President and Vice-Chancellor, says: “We launched TADAS this year to provide student-athletes with more comprehensive and personalised learning support. I am thrilled that the six athletes will join HKBU through the Scheme. I sincerely hope that our student athletes will continue to perform outstandingly in their respective sports, and at the same time, pursue their studies and have an enjoyable and fruitful time on the HKBU campus in the years to come.”

TADAS applicants should have recognised sporting achievements and rankings; have a nomination from sport institutions, such as the Hong Kong Sports Institute or other sport associations; or be retired athletes of HKSAR sports teams who have achieved outstanding results in regional and international sporting events.

Successful TADAS entrants will be supported with personalised mentorship, academic counselling, psychological nourishment and career planning, as well as flexible study arrangements to facilitate their training and competition schedules. They are allowed to extend their study period so that they can pursue their academic studies and the development of their sporting careers at the same time.

HKBU launched TADAS pursuant to the introduction of the Student-Athlete Learning Support and Admission Scheme (SALSA Scheme) by the University Grants Committee  in February 2022. SALSA offers more resources to universities so that they can provide student-athletes with more comprehensive and personalised learning support to help them pursue their sporting careers and academic studies at the same time.