Fourteen-year-old Hannah Wilson was born here and holds a permanent identity card. As a British passport holder without any Chinese ancestry, Hannah has been placed in an impossible position. Not old enough to renounce her British citizenship, and disqualified from competing for Britain because she has already swum for Hong Kong in international events, her best hope seems to be an appeal to the IOC. Hannah years ago turned down British coaches when they came knocking on her door. It would be too bad if this dedication to Hong Kong becomes a part of the reason for keeping her out of this year's Games in Athens.

Sports officials here have vowed to press Hannah's case, even to ask the Hong Kong government to issue her a Hong Kong passport. This is not a realistic hope, so it is up to the IOC to see the merits of Hannah's appeal.

The news of Hannah's plight comes at a time when the government's plans to restructure the bureaucracy underpinning sports development in the city has pitted coaches and other specialists against bureaucrats at the Home Affairs Bureau and the Leisure and Cultural Services Department. The controversy underscores how far Hong Kong has to go in building an infrastructure capable of cultivating many more top athletes like her.

True, Hong Kong came back from the recent Asian Games in Pusan, South Korea, with a record 32 medals. And some of our promising young athletes are taking home prizes in other international competitions. Identifying the best of them now and supporting their efforts over the next few years could make all the difference at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing and at the East Asian Games planned for Hong Kong in 2009. Instead, the government plans to cut the subsidies to such athletes and to the infrastructure that supports them.

It is also shifting the sporting bureaucracy to bring all aspects of funding and development under the direct control of the Home Affairs Bureau and the Leisure and Cultural Services Department.

The way in which staff cuts at the subvented Sports Development Board were recently announced, even as negotiations between this body and the government were under way, did little to foster trust. The dissolution of the board and the creation of a Sports Commission have been long discussed. But the fear among coaches and athletes is that they will be sidelined and people with little experience in working with top-level athletes will hold the purse strings and set policy.

All is not lost, however. It is not too late for the government to get back to good-faith negotiations with development board employees about layoffs and continued funding for elite sports. Budgetary constraints cannot be ignored, but the Leisure and Cultural Services Department should look for efficiencies in its $2.3 billion budget before going after the relatively small amount set aside for sports development. It also needs to assure coaches and other specialists that they will have a voice in policy after the commission is set up.

Hong Kong's medal chances at this summer's Olympic Games in Athens have been dealt a blow after several top athletes were declared ineligible because they failed a new citizenship test set by the International Olympic Committee.

Those affected include genuine medal hopes formerly from the mainland who now compete for Hong Kong but do not hold or qualify for a special administrative passport.

The move by IOC chiefs has also left the Olympic dream of 14-year-old swimming prodigy Hannah Wilson in tatters unless sports officials can persuade them she is a special case.

Badminton star Wang Chen, who briefly held the women's world No1 ranking last year, and table tennis stars Tie Yana and Lin Ling are the most high-profile athletes affected.

The IOC decision requires all Olympic competitors to hold the passport of the country they want to represent. In Hong Kong's case that means a Hong Kong Special Administrative Region passport, which Wang and other former mainland athletes do not have.

In the past, a Hong Kong ID card was enough proof of citizenship for the IOC.

Hong Kong's Olympics team is expected to number about 30 and the rule could hit a fifth or more of those expected to be selected.

"The IOC has tightened its eligibility to the Games because they believe that many countries have misused the previous requirements by importing athletes," said Pang Chung, secretary-general of the Hong Kong Sports Federation and Olympic Committee.

"This decision is across the board and not specifically aimed at Hong Kong. But we will appeal as all our athletes are genuine residents and not imports."

Ronnie Wong, deputy secretary-general, said: "Hong Kong is unique. We have people of many different nationalities who have made Hong Kong their home. They should not be penalised. I hope the IOC can be flexible otherwise we will be badly affected."

While Wang, Tie and Lin are considered genuine medal contenders, the ruling has also affected a number of others, including badminton duo Agus Hariyanto and Yohan Hadikurumo Wiratama, both formerly of Indonesia, and table tennis player Ko Lai-chak.

Hannah Wilson is Hong Kong's 100 metres freestyle women's record holder. Although born in Hong Kong, she holds a British passport. As a minor, she cannot renounce her British nationality and apply for an SAR passport.

Chung Pak-kwong, a senior official of the Sports Development Board, which is in charge of elite sports in Hong Kong, said: "There is a global trend where athletes from poorer countries go to the developed world. This is even happening in the United States. I'm not saying Hong Kong should import athletes too, but if an athlete from abroad comes here and stays for several years, I think they should be eligible to represent Hong Kong."

Hong Kong women's table tennis team is ranked second in the world behind China.

Hong Kong IOC member Timothy Fok Tsun-ting believed common sense would prevail and 14-year-old swimmer Hannah Wilson and a number of medal-winning prospects in table tennis and badminton would be allowed to travel to Athens.

I think the executive committee of the IOC will be sympathetic to our plight as they have in the past, Fok said last night after signing a landmark Olympic agreement with China counterparts at Government House.

A new citizenship test by the IOC requires all Olympic competitors to have a passport of the country they want to represent. Wilson does not hold a Hong Kong Special Administrative Region passport, nor do a number of other former mainland athletes who now fly Hong Kong's flag. In the past, a Hong Kong ID card was enough proof of citizenship.

Pang Chung, the secretary general of the Hong Kong Sports Federation & Olympic Committee, said they had made a case to the IOC for Wilson, the 100m freestyle record-holder, and a number of other athletes, including table tennis stars Tie Yana and Lin Ling, formerly of the mainland.

We expect to hear from them in two or three weeks, Pang said. He said the size of the issue would be clear only after all the athletes who had the potential to qualify for the team returned their accreditation forms. It is expected about 30 will make the grade.

Yu Zaiqing, China's IOC member at last night's ceremony, gave Hong Kong's athletes hope by saying: I am confident they will be successful.

And they found another ally in Australia's IOC member John Coates, who believes Hong Kong has become an unintended target. This is a result of blatant cases of some national Olympic committees purchasing athletes, he said referring to Qatar, which lured Kenyan Stephen Cherono to switch nationality with a bonus of US$1 million if he won gold in the 3,000m steeplechase at the World Championships in Paris last August. Cherono did, under the name of Saif Saeed Shaheen.

A month later, Kenya protested again after two athletes defected to Bahrain to represent the Gulf state in the Arab Games in Algeria.

That's why I think this is an unintended consequence of what the IOC said they are going to police more strictly, Coates said. They are not trying to stop someone [like Wilson] who has been living here all her life as I understand it.

Coates was a guest at last night's signing ceremony of a sports co-operation agreement between the Hong Kong Sports Federation & Olympic Committee and the Chinese Olympic Committee.

  Former Olympic swimmers have sent a heartfelt plea to Hong Kong sports supremo Timothy Fok Tsun-ting, calling on him to intervene on behalf of teenager Hannah Wilson, who is facing expulsion from the team for this summer's Athens Games.

Twenty ex-Olympians have sent a letter to Mr Fok, saying the International Olympic Committee's rule change - whereby only competitors who have a passport of the country they wish to represent can take part - would have disastrous consequences for Hong Kong's sporting environment.

 Dear Sir,

Hannah Wilson is being unfairly penalised by a ruling that was not designed to affect athletes like her and in the interests of natural justice the ruling must be changed to allow her and others to compete for Hong Kong (Sunday Sport, February 29).

Was Hannah paid or encouraged to come to Hong Kong in order to boost the quality of our athletes? No. Was she born here as part of a cunning and long-term plan to sneak her into the team of a small territory? Probably not.

Hannah was born in Hong Kong, is a permanent resident, has been educated here and all her life has been unswervingly dedicated to her sport as a Hong Kong competitor. She is a Hong Kong citizen who genuinely represents the qualities that make Hong Kong a vibrant, vital and distinctive place: dedication, determination, decency and diversity.

Hong Kong is made of immigrants and their families who have made this place their home, and it's the diversity that they bring that gives Hong Kong its identity.

Football teams are notorious for making the loyalty of their players a matter of money. It's right that the IOC should act to prevent countries from buying in athletes in the same way. But if these new regulations undermine the Olympic spirit that they are intended to protect, and if athletes like Hannah who embody that Olympic spirit are excluded, then a gross injustice has been done.

Martin Alexander