Hong Kong’s Commissioner for Sports Sam Wong Tak-sum has resigned due to personal reasons, after only assuming the post for little more than a year.
Wong, a former windsurfing representative for Hong Kong and husband to Olympian Lee Lai-shan, took up the appointment in August 2023 for a three-year term with a number of responsibilities, including formulating sports policy, promoting sports in the community, supporting elite sports and promoting Hong Kong as a center for major international sporting events.
The Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau announced on Thursday night that Wong had "requested for termination of his employment agreement on personal grounds".
"[The bureau] would like to thank Mr Wong for his contribution towards promotion of sports policies and sports development of Hong Kong in the past year, and wishes him all the best in his future endeavors and that he would continue to contribute to the sports sector of Hong Kong.
"[The bureau] will identify Mr Wong's successor according to the established practice." The statement read.
Meanwhile, sources suggested that the former athlete has been struggling to adapt to the bureaucratic culture, with Wong unable to mesh well with his fellow civil servants.
According to a government insider, the fact that some internal meetings are conducted entirely in English in addition to dealing with a large number of documents has already made Wong feel overwhelmed.
