Hong Kong netball star balances elite sport with legal career

HONG KONG, 27 AUGUST 2026 —

Zenia Wong will start a two-year training contract at an international law firm in Hong Kong next month after helping the city’s team qualify for next year’s Netball World Cup in Sydney.

Analytical and tactical elements of netball align with her strengths, she told the South China Morning Post. “I love it when I see the set play, and I can figure out the holes in other people’s games,” she said. “The idea of things being a puzzle always interests me.”

Wong described the final five minutes of Hong Kong’s semi-final against Malaysia as “one of the most stressful times of my life”. “What differentiates you in those last moments is your courage, mental strength and unwavering belief in yourself,” she said.

She balanced sport and studies during Covid-19 and recovered from a left-hand injury that kept her off the court for months while she broke into the UCL first team. Netball arrived in her life at an international school in Hong Kong when she was nine, a move that pushed her outside her comfort zone.

“It made me come out of my comfort zone to speak more English, and to try something new,” she said. “I think I’ll always be grateful that I did that. It opened a lot of doors for me, made me more outgoing and comfortable being with people.”

Wong was the only player to progress through every Hong Kong age-group programme before making her senior debut at 19. She called her rise “special and quite fast” in just over a decade.

Her biggest growth came at UCL, where she trained up to three times a week and travelled across the UK. “It was life-changing for me as a netball player because it threw me into the deep end,” she said. “I think playing in a different style and playing against players who were taller, faster and stronger really challenged me.”

On the night Hong Kong qualified for Sydney 2025, Wong played centre rather than her usual wing attack. “My recent transition to centre was a little different, but one that I think was quite fitting for my personality because I need to read off the other players,” she said.

Netball remains a niche sport in Hong Kong, with about 2,000 participants. Wong sees it as a platform to grow the game. “My goal is not just to be a better player, but also to make sure that, as my teammate Gessy Li Ga-wing always says, I hope the next time someone asks me, I wouldn’t need to explain what netball is.”

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