The team will play their semi-final today at 6 PM (HK time) against a team they’ve lost to before.
If you’re in town, there’s a free TV broadcast to support them! #NationalGames 8/8

Right now, the criteria have mostly relied on performance--basically, medals. But how can a sport win medals if it never gets the support to grow in the first place? It’s the classic chicken-and-egg question all over again. 7/8

It’s always moving to see an underdog story like this, but it also exposes a deeper question: what criteria do we use to decide which sports deserve support? Who gets to define what counts as “elite”? 6/8

The HK team is amateur, while most other provincial and city teams in the National Games are professional, with full-time players and strong backing. In Ming Pao Weekly, the head coach said: “The better the team does, the more it shows how much the players have sacrificed.” 5/8

There are 16 players in the HK handball team. 15 of them have quit their jobs or taken unpaid leave to prepare for the National Games. And yet, this amateur team has just made history by reaching the semi-finals of the 2025 National Games yesterday. 4/8

There are currently 39 elite sports , and handball is not one of them. That means the HK handball team receives no sports or financial support from HKSI. No access to HKSI gym rooms, no free meals, no physio support. They only get a small government subsidy about USD 400 per month per player. 3/8

We interviewed a number of major sports associations in town, and one strong impression stayed with me — the growing gap between “elite” and “non-elite” sports in HK. “Elite sports” are divided into Tier A and B, both supported by the Hong Kong Sports Institute(HKSI), the official training body. 2/8

Decolonizing academia has to start at home. “Attracting global talent” sounds progressive, but if local scholars are overlooked we risk reinforcing the same hierarchies we’re trying to move beyond. Real progress entails valuing regional expertise, not just importing prestige. 6/6 #HigherEducation

This emerging dynamic raises broader questions: why aren’t Asian universities more confident in recognizing and supporting the talent nurtured within their own ranks? How can Asian higher education come into its own if we’re all scrambling to hire from the Ivy League? 5/6

Some job ads in Asia even explicitly state the openings are for those “affiliated with research institutes from the US”. Meanwhile, scholars who earned their degrees or built their careers in Asia are often told to “publish more” to make themselves competitive. 4/6

But what’s worrying is how hiring and fellowship systems at many Asian universities with limited funding appear to favor candidates from top Western institutional affiliations, even when regional scholars possess equally strong—or stronger—research profiles. 3/6

As jobs vanish in North America and Europe, more scholars—particularly those from the US—are applying to work at Asian universities. The influx makes sense; everyone’s just trying to keep their research careers afloat. 2/6