While Hong Kong drags its feet naturalising basketball players, Taiwan is busy recruiting foreign talent
- Taiwan officials say they are on course to have newly naturalised and localised players by the teams’ next match in November
- Hong Kong’s rules are less lenient, with players facing longer periods to earn the right to play for the city
Hong Kong risks watching their main rivals from Taiwan put together a much stronger team ahead of their FIBA Asia Cup qualifier in November.
Officials at the Chinese Taipei Basketball Association told the Post they were on course to bring in two naturalised players for the next window of the tournament, while Hong Kong’s efforts to bring in reinforcements appeared to be stagnant.
Sources with knowledge of the development told the Post they were working on the eligibility of Hong Kong Eastern forward Dominic Gilbert, an Australian-Croatian born in Hong Kong.
“Necessary papers had been submitted [to the Immigration Department] last October,” the source said. “So, we’re in the process.
“Gilbert has a Hong Kong Identity Card but he doesn’t have the Right of Abode [in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region] yet, and that’s what we are working on.”
The city’s laws require both Chinese citizens and non-Chinese citizens to have lived in Hong Kong for a continuous period of not less than seven years to be eligible for the Right of Abode in the HKSAR.
