Despite having said goodbye to the open, Waiho Chu and Hoyin Raymond Lo going ashore appeared not very depressed. "We engage in canoe and kayak out of interest." Chu said with a smile.

The "Good Luck Beijing" Canoe/Kayak Flatwater Open opened at Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park, Beijing today, the Hong Kong pair Waiho Chu/Hoyin Raymond Lo finished last in the men's K-2 500m preliminary to be knocked out of the semifinals.

According to Chu, all the participating Hong Kong paddlers are amateurs, Chu is a stable administrator, while his partner Lo is an advertising distributor with a Hong Kong newspaper. "Few people engage in canoe and kayak in Hong Kong, we chose this sport out of interest. To tell the truth, many Hong Kong people feel the sport to be strange." As they have to work by day, Chu and Lo can spare only one and a half hours or two on canoe and kayak every day, "We certainly expect little of the result, the most important that we can enrich our experience every time."

Being amateurs, all the Hong Kong paddlers participated in the open at their own cost.