Hong Kong eye Kai Tak return after National Games gold medal

Hong Kong’s Liam Herbert promised a return to Kai Tak Stadium in 2026 after winning gold at the 15th National Games of the People’s Republic of China.

The Guernsey-born player was on the scoresheet as Hong Kong beat Shandong 26-19 in front of 20,000 supporters at the national stadium. Now the team’s attentions have now turned to January’s HSBC SVNS 3 event.

Promotion to HSBC SVNS 2 offers the chance to claim a spot at the World Championships, which starts at the Hong Kong Sevens in April.

“Pre-season was hard already, going back into it will be terrible,” Herbert told the South China Morning Post.

“We have to do what’s needed to get back to the top. We’ll all train in our Christmas break, too.

“Carrying this momentum forward to the Challenger in January is huge for us. Our next aim is to play in the main tournament in Hong Kong.”

A return to the Hong Kong Sevens draw would be extremely meaningful to the side. For the past two editions of the competition the side have only competed in the exhibition event.

Recent success at home will not only build confidence but add motivation for the players to compete on the same stage again.

It was a challenging final for Hong Kong, who saw a 12-point lead slip against Shandong at one stage of the fixture.

The victory also marked Hong Kong’s first team sport gold in the China Games and was played in front of a 20,000 strong crowd at the eight-month old Kai Tak Stadium.

“It was incredible to see so many people coming to watch us in the final, and they can all see just how much progress Hong Kong rugby has made,” Cado Lee said.

“I hope this sparks curiosity and interest for kids to try rugby and that some can move up the ranks and play for Hong Kong one day also.”

Hong Kong Women did finish on a high, albeit not on the podium. They secured fifth place with a 24-7 win over Shanghai after a challenging first day of the competition in which they slipped to losses against Shandong and Sichuan.

“We aimed for the medals,” Melody Li told hkrugby.com. “We didn’t make it, and we were disappointed but at least we finished strong and hopefully we can keep that momentum going.

“Today we challenged ourselves to score first because we hadn’t done that in any of our games, and we achieved that.”