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About 100 people from Hong Kong who will be serving as volunteers in the 2008 Olympic Games, left for Beijing this afternoon (August 1) by train. They are expected to arrive at Beijing West Station tomorrow afternoon.
Seeing the volunteers off at the MTR Hunghom Station today were the Deputy Director of the Liaison Office of the Central Peopleˇ¦s Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Mr Li Gang;ˇ@the Permanent Secretary for Home Affairs, Mrs Carrie Yau; and Operations Director of the MTR Corporation Mr Andrew McCusker.
Mrs Yau appreciated the endeavours of the Liaison Office of the Central Peopleˇ¦s Government, which would provide logistical support to the volunteers at Beijing during the Games. She also thanked the MTR Corporation for arranging priority bookings and seating as well as offering tickets to the volunteers at a concessionary rate.
ˇ§I believe the volunteers will surely take pride in serving in the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and will do their best to help make the first Olympic Games on Chinese soil successful,ˇ¨ Mrs Yau said.
Apart from the 100-plus volunteers, another 140 volunteers, including 22 para-medical members from the Hong Kong St John Ambulance and 15 physiotherapists from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University had arrived or would arrive in Beijing soon. More than 7,000 applicants in Hong Kong applied to serve in the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and went through a vigorous process involving elaborate written tests and group interviews. Most of these volunteers are aged between 18 and 30. On average, a volunteer from Hong Kong will serve in the Olympic Games for three weeks.
Ends/Friday, August 1, 2008
Issued at HKT 16:41
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