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The Chairman of the Elite Sports Committee and Chef de Mission of the Hong Kong delegation to the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, Mr Victor Hui, has submitted a report on Hong Kongˇ¦s participation in the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games to the Secretary for Home Affairs, Mr Tsang Tak-sing.
Mr Tsang today (September 26) expressed his appreciation for the effort put in by Mr Hui in compiling the report and noted that the Government would study the feasibility of various proposals put forward in the report and the ways to implement them.
A total of 34 Hong Kong athletes took part in 11 sports events in the Beijing Olympic Games last month, namely athletics, swimming, badminton, cycling, equestrian, fencing, rowing, sailing, shooting, table tennis and triathlon. The report mainly reviewed and summarised the experience of participation by the Hong Kong delegation in the Games, and examined the positioning and direction of elite sports development in Hong Kong.
The report made a number of proposals on the development of elite sports in Hong Kong and ways to strengthen existing measures. These proposals include:
Development of priority sports
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- To allocate additional resources to priority sports so as to strengthen training programmes
- To identify and strengthen support for other competitive sports with development potential
Nurturing of athletes
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- While promoting ˇ§sports for allˇ¨, the Government and National Sports Associations should intensify their efforts at the school level to lay the foundation to nurture local athletes.
- To provide more opportunities for exchanges between local athletes and Mainland and overseas top athletes
- To develop an effective approach to identify potential athletes for the development of individual sports
Comprehensive support
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- To enhance financial, technical, educational and vocational support for elite athletes
- To provide more training facilities of international standard and to introduce superior and advanced training programmes from overseas
- To strengthen partnership with the commercial sector/ institutions/ other organisations for seeking additional resources to support local sports development
The Elite Sports Committee is one of the three committees under the Sports Commission (SC). It advises the Secretary for Home Affairs through the SC on matters pertaining to high performance sports, such as policy direction for the Hong Kong Sports Institute and funding priorities for supporting high performance sports and athletes.
Ends/Friday, September 26, 2008
Issued at HKT 17:29
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