FILA HK site devoid of Angus Ng's attire, HKBA looks for new jersey for athletes

The controversy surrounding the jerseys worn by Hong Kong badminton players continue.

Copping flak for the jersey provided to Angus Ng earlier, FILA Hong Kong has now removed the attire from its site after netizens flocking to its Facebook page to leave angry comments.  The issue began when Jacky Fung, researcher and centre manager of education policy research centre at Hong Kong Policy Research Institute said the FILA-sponsored jersey which carried the Hong Kong flag worn by Ng adopted an old design in 1990 instead of the flag as stipulated by the Regional Flag and Regional Emblem Ordinance.

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Meanwhile, the Hong Kong Badminton Association (HKBA) has admitted that two other athlete’s jerseys also had the old version of the Hong Kong flag. As such, the HKBA is now looking for new attires for the players ahead of today's (30 July) match, said media reports. 

According to ON.CC, the Hong Kong Badminton Association admitted that the jerseys of Jordan Tang Chun-man and Tse Ying-suet also contained the wrong flag. Media reports also claimed that Hong Kong Badminton Association will be contacting sponsor YONEX to offer new attires for Tang and Tse for today's match.

According to the Regional Flag and Regional Emblem Ordinance, Hong Kong's flag, regional emblem or their designs which is damaged, defiled, faded or substandard, must not be displayed or used. However, the ordinance also stated that: "The copy of the regional flag or regional emblem, that is not an exact copy but that so closely resembles the regional flag or regional emblem as to lead to the belief that the copy in question is the regional flag or regional emblem is taken to be the regional flag or regional emblem for the purposes of this Ordinance."

The jersey conundrum has been the talk of the town in Hong Kong, first making headlines for Ng’s black colour attire worn during a match earlier this week.

This triggered educator Nicholas Muk to lash out at Ng's jersey choice saying: “I strongly condemn Ng for wearing a black shirt without the HKSAR flag when he is representing Hong Kong! Please withdraw from the game if you do not want to represent Hong Kong, China.” However, Muk's page was deleted not long after.  Since then, Muk apologised for his failure at weighing his words as he was too emotional.

Photo courtesy: Jordan Chan's Instagram

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