- Katherine Choi Wing-yee has set up online stores on Facebook and Instagram to market her special, hand-drawn HKMasks amid closure of public facilities
- The 2019 China artistic roller skating champion is hoping to qualify for the 2022 Asian Games after missing out on the 2010 event
Katherine Choi Wing-yee remembers watching the artistic roller skating event at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, heartbroken she was not out there on the rink after the Hong Kong Olympic Committee said she failed to meet qualifying standards.
Choi, though, refuses to give up on her dream. Roller sports is set to return to the Asian Games fold in Hangzhou in 2022, but the 30-year-old is confronted by what seems to be insurmountable odds " she doesn't have a coach, she is not part of any elite programme and, because of the coronavirus crisis, she has lost her sole source of income as a skating coach.
The 2019 China in-line figure skating champion is trying to make ends meet by selling face masks online, using the HKMask method created by local scientist and inventor Dr K Kwong to combat the Covid-19 pandemic.
"Before this, I was making these HKMasks and giving it out to my friends," said Choi, who would coach seven days a week and train alone whenever she had the chance. "My friends said I could sell them and earn some money, but that was two months ago and I was not thinking about profiting out of it. I still had a job and I didn't need to make extra cash.
"But now, all the rinks are closed and I have nowhere to coach. This (selling masks) is the only way to help myself out," said Choi, who lives with her parents near Victoria Park.
"If I do an ordinary job, I can't chase my dream of maybe representing Hong Kong at the Asian Games. It's kind of difficult to do roller skating in Hong Kong. I'm the only one still surviving in this environment."
Her masks, which sell at HK$70 each on Facebook and Instagram, are as effective as an N70 commercial face mask, according to Kwong's website, and feature hand-drawn designs by Choi that express her gratitude to customers who buy from her.
As a freelance trainer, Choi said she was ineligible for the HK$7,500 one-off subsidy recently secured by concern group Hong Kong Sports Alliance for up to 17,000 registered coaches in Hong Kong.
Although she performs on roller skates, she mainly worked as an ice skating coach " one of among 200 in Hong Kong and most of whom are now without an income because of the government's decision to close all public sports facilities at least until April 28.
Choi has been skating since she was six, with her love for the sport helping her to emerge physically and mentally stronger from an early childhood fraught with health problems.
"Actually, it was my dad who got me into skating," she said. "I was quite a sickly kid, I'd have to see the doctor three or four times a month, so my dad wanted me to do some exercise.
"We lived near a roller skating rink in Victoria Park and that's how it started."
Choi took to her skates with aplomb and her father, sensing she could go far, asked her if she wanted a coach. The youngster initially refused, but her father said to give it a try and if she didn't like it she could stop.
"And I haven't stopped since," said Choi, a former Asian Championship bronze medallist and a 35-time winner in domestic events who has represented Hong Kong since she was 10. "And I don't intend to stop for now."
Which is why selling the HKMasks and generating an income is important for her sporting ambitions " not only for competing at the Asian Games but also ensuring that artistic roller skating survives beyond her retirement.
"I was in the audience at the Guangzhou Asian Games, watching my friends from China, Japan, Taiwan and India taking part and thinking to myself why I'm not also skating," she said forlornly. "Now there may be a chance in Hangzhou.
"I need an income to make a living and continue my training. But there is a more important reason for wanting to do well in international tournaments. I want the sport to gain more recognition. If I'm not doing it, there is no one else in Hong Kong who is doing it.
Coronavirus: Hong Kong coaches struggle to make a living amid Covid-19 as facilities close and students stay at home
"If I stop now and stop promoting it, artistic roller skating will be extinct in Hong Kong. I want to make more people try this sport.
"I put in a lot of time and effort in figure skating, but Hong Kong is a fast-food society. Everyone must study and mums and dads want their kids to earn certificates quickly."
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