Hong Kong’s Yang: “I’m here to be the bridge, the facilitator”

Throughout the month of March, the IHF celebrates women in various roles in handball in a special series. The final part, part eight, hears about the career of IHF Arbitration Commission member and Hong Kong Handball Association’s Board Member and Executive Committee Chairperson, Elizabeth Ling Yang in her own words.

Early Days

I had a lovely childhood. My family has always been extremely supportive and allowed me to try many different things. 

Sometimes I felt that I would try something but then move on to something too quick, like sport: I was in the swimming team, I was a hurdler, I was in the volleyball team, I was a high jumper. 

I studied law in Hong Kong and it was also on the encouragement of my father, although his first degree was in sport and he was a sports teacher for a while before he pursued law.

He always said that law can be a very good foundational background and that I don’t necessarily have to become a lawyer after studying law.

My connection with law is my connection with words. I love to communicate, I love to interact with people. I realised in my teens that my strength is in using words to evoke emotion, to persuade people.

When I was studying for my bachelor’s degree, everybody would go for further studies maybe in the United Kingdom or United States of America, but when it was my time, after having practised for nearly 10 years, I decided to do my master’s degree in China. I thought the future is really in China. 

By that time we had already been unified and I studied my master’s in China law. To take hold of that opportunity offered to Hong Kong lawyers to study China law and understand both legal systems really helped me in my legal career.

A lot of my clients are from mainland China. They feel that they can talk to somebody who understands where they’re coming from and help them navigate Hong Kong and overseas legal issues.

Discovering handball

In 2015, the Handball Association of Hong Kong (HAHK) wanted someone to come in and help with their legal aspects. Their Chairman of the board of directors, Mr Ho (Chung Ho Philibe), is a good friend of my father and I was referred.

Initially, I was invited to join the board as an honorary legal adviser but then became the legal director two years later. I am now on the board and have been the chairperson of the executive committee since 2017. 

Unlike the other interviewees in this gender equality month series, I was not a player, coach or referee. I didn’t really get involved in those areas other than governance and law.

I probably would have watched other matches of handball before, but my first event with the HAHK was the Hong Kong Beach Festival in 2015. That really left a big impression. I never realised how fast-paced and exciting a handball match can be. 

I was just there as legal honorary legal advisor sitting in the audience but the match just captivated me entirely. It was a women’s championship and it was just so exciting.

Since I joined the board I’m no longer there as a legal adviser when I attend events. I would hope that we have done all our work so that there are no legal issues on the day. I am there as a representative from the management and governance of the HKHA, and there for the players. 

I don’t think law and sports are mutually exclusive. I’ve always considered what sort of role I have and the input I can make, not only in handball or sport, but generally. Last year I joined the anti-doping subcommittee of the Hong Kong National Olympic Committee.

Handball in Hong Kong

Everybody in Hong Kong loves football and volleyball, plus we have the Rugby 7s too. They’re visible and the public are very aware of these sports. Comparatively, handball is not as visible within the Hong Kong public.

However, Hong Kong handball’s results in international games and the Asian Games are probably the best out of all those sports I mentioned. We actually have been able to keep improving. We have landed good results in many championships. 

Lately, we have one or two of our elite players who took that big step of taking on a professional career and going to Europe to train and sign up with clubs. That’s a huge step.

I've been involved in other sports and I have to say handball actually fares better than the other more visible and major sports when it comes to local sportspeople going to professional clubs or leagues and our national team achieving such good results in international and regional championships.

Getting legal, education is key

The Hong Kong Government is now pushing for all national sports associations to review their memorandum and articles. Their basic law, their constitution. It’s not something that’s completely static, we have to change with the times. I see this when I also attend Asian Handball Federation (AHF) and IHF Congresses.

As a non-profit organisation, the HKHA has certain government and ad-hoc NGO funding. We’re dealing with money and need to be careful about anti-corruption; how the money is spent and be accountable to the audits. Also, people are much more aware of their rights, child protection and sexual harassment, for example.

Over the past seven years I have had experience of dealing with the whole spectrum. I’m in a position where if the HKHA needed outside counsel, we can engage the legal representative, but I am the first line of enquiry. My executive committee, president and secretary general can freely and safely speak with me and raise issues, trusting that I can give them a first line of opinion.

We’ve definitely dealt with tricky, difficult issues, but the HKHA has been managed and governed in a very professional way and I have drafted and reviewed our disciplinary appeal structures and rules.

It’s so important that we put in rules to discipline any violations, but at the same time, I realise how important education is. You can’t just punish people by the rules or by the law and not assist or educate them so that they don’t break the law in the first place.

The focus has always been to our rules and regulations so that we have a very clear framework, because law is about communicating with people so that they know where the boundaries are. 

At the same time, we’ve been organising a lot of governance lectures or courses available to our executive committee members so that they can be informed and educated. They can then bring in the coaches and let them know about the rules and regulations involved so that we don’t see them at the disciplinary committee, and so that the players and everybody who loves handball, can play handball safely. 

But I’m also here to be the bridge, the facilitator. As a lawyer, if you want to be promoting sport at a higher, more professional level, then somebody has to go in and look at the small print and make sure that everything's being operated smoothly and professionally. 

My grandfather is from China, from Zhejiang Province and its capital city, Hangzhou, is hosting the Asian Games later this year. For five years I have had the chance to meet with committees there to understand how they are planning and putting together the games. 

I realised how professional people need to be brought into sports and that we shouldn’t feel that sports or law don’t come together. Sports should include everyone – accountants, lawyers, doctors. Sports is the unifier, the big melting pot where all these professionals should come in and contribute.

In that sense, as a lawyer, I see the value of being involved in handball even though I’ve never been a player, coach or referee.

A link between East and West

Hong Kong is an international financial centre, a hectic and business-oriented city. Sport wasn’t really our focus as much as other cities and countries, it’s just like an addendum, an extracurricular activity for young people to do while they’re in school. Very few people actually pursue sports as a career.

But I can see that changing in recent years because even Hong Kong people, despite our focus on work and business, realise how sports can really cultivate not just health but society, cohesion and all sorts of shared values on community at a national and even international level. 

It has become more and more important and I realised how my role within the HKHA and other sports associations can make a difference.

For decades, Hong Kong has served as a window into China and to a certain extent it still is. It’s such a blend of East and West in terms of cultures and influences. With my background, I position myself as a bridge, being able to communicate the different ideas and points of views. 

Experiencing the handball family

My first IHF Congress was Sochi in 2015. I had attended other international forums, but that was the first time I represented Hong Kong. I was so proud. I took many photos of myself with the name card and the flag and sent it to my family and friends. It meant a lot and I still feel excited about it today.

I remembered how the IHF President (Dr Hassan Moustafa) opened the congress and kept mentioning this phrase ‘the handball family’, talking about the ‘members of the handball family’. That really struck me.

Maybe it’s across every sport, but specifically, my personal experience with handball is that it is such an inclusive community. The IHF made sure that everybody felt that way when they arrived there through the way that the Congress is conducted and the way the IHF has been breaking grounds in pushing for different aspects of development in handball.

I remember there was a special presentation by China to have handball rolled out in all schools, and how the foresight of the IHF in identifying areas to develop handball is really impressive.

Over the years, the IHF has kept reviewing rules and improving the quality of how handball games are played. That is also one of the things that struck me when I got more involved in handball. It was funny, because the HKHA Executive Committee members obviously take these Congress and opportunities to meet with the international handball family very seriously, yet they all admit that going through a huge volume of rules and regulations is not something that they are looking forward to, but I told them, actually, this is exactly what I enjoy.

At Congress I was suddenly able to see sport in a different perspective and how it actually impacts international relations. How it can bring change to, for instance, gender equality – how you can include girls and women in sports, how they can feel safe to play sport and how you can make sure that smaller countries with less resources can still participate and not just be marginalised.

To be able to look at sports and the implication and influence of sports on an international level is eye opening.

Time for arbitration 

In 2021, the HKHA Secretary General alerted me to the fact that there will be a new election and that the HKHA should put forward some names. They had been aware over the years how excited I am every time I’ve attended an IHF or AHF Congress and tell them everything about it. They always say ‘Elizabeth, would you like to go for something?’

It became a natural choice to go for arbitration because I have the legal background and training to offer.

Currently, the IHF Arbitration Commission has just been corresponding on email, but I really look forward to meeting with them because they’re all from very different legal systems. I’m intrigued as to how we will be working together, but, again, sport becomes the unifying force.

It’s interesting that people from such different legal backgrounds can all be working together in a tribunal. In a way I shouldn’t look forward to a case coming up, but at the same time, I am really looking forward to that opportunity.

Inclusive and involved, but still further progress can be made

Stepping into the handball family I never felt that I had to somehow fight to be visible or included at all. I never felt I’ve had to prove myself as a woman. I felt included from the get go. 

I really resonate with what Elena said in her article that we’re there because of our ability and we happen to be women. We’re not there because we are women.

I truly believe I have something to offer, otherwise I wouldn’t be there. I have the skill set but I love to absorb everything. The IHF itself has so much to offer because of its history, because of everything that it has built along the way. It is for me, on a personal level, a humbling experience to come in and learn and absorb as much as I can.

I am friends with a lot of people from different religious backgrounds and cultures and you have to be really sensitive, but in some countries and cultures, there is still that glass ceiling for women, there is still that challenge.

Unrelenting energy

When the time and opportunity arise I like to just grasp it and not say no. I’m not doing everything at the same time. I have different focuses at different phases in my life. 

It’s about prioritising. We can’t do everything at once. During the COVID times I have not been travelling. I found more time to do other things. I’ve done a 50km run three times in the last year. I was like ‘OK, I can find time to do other things I would like to achieve’. 
 
All those experiences add up to make me who I am today. I can still grow and learn but I feel that those experiences make me to be ready for these bigger and more challenging roles. When these opportunities arise, then I’m here to say yes to them.

Photos courtesy of Elizabeth Ling Yang