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The Chairman of the Organising Committee of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Delegation to the 11th National Games of the People's Republic of China (Organising Committee), Mr Timothy Fok, and a swimming athlete of the Delegation, Mr Lum Ching-tat, attended The Launching Ceremony of the 11th National Games Torch Relay in Beijing this morning (August 16) and immediately brought the flame back to Hong Kong, marking the territory-wide commitment to the Games.
Speaking at the press conference held at the Press Room, Government VIP Suite, Hong Kong International Airport, Mr Fok said the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) will send a 340-member delegation, comprising of 230 athletes and 110 officials / medical practitioners to take part in
the finals of the 11th National Games to be held in Shandong between October 16 and 28.
HKSAR has been sending a delegation to the 8th National Games since 1997, and then the 9th and 10th National Games in 2001 and 2005 respectively.
Mr Fok said that it would be the forth time for the HKSAR to participate in the National Games and the delegation this year will be the largest ever.
He pointed out that the National Games was the highest level of sport events in the Mainland and the athletes from all provinces and cities would take pride in joining it. He also praised the Hong Kong athletes for their outstanding achievements in the past three National Games.
Having achieved one gold medal in the 8th National Games, the Hong Kong delegation recorded more outstanding results with two gold, two silver and one bronze medals in the 9th National Games. The Hong Kong team seized one gold and three bronze medals in the 10th National Games.
According to the regulations laid down by the General Administration of Sport of China, the SAR had sent 184 athletes to take part in the preliminary rounds in 11 sports between March and July this year and 96 of the athletes were qualified to contest in the finals in seven sports. The other 134 athletes will take part in the finals straight away after being granted exemption from the preliminary rounds.
The Hong Kong athletes will take part in 25 sports events of the 11th National Games, including swimming, water polo, athletics, badminton, baseball, boxing, canoeing, cycling, equestrian, fencing, gymnastics, handball, hockey, judo, sailing, windsurfing, shooting, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, triathlon, weightlifting, wushu (taolu), short track speed skating and figure skating.
To promote the Hong Kong delegationˇ¦s participation in the 11th National Games, the Organising Committee will publish posters and run dedicated homepage to enhance public understanding of the Games as well as to solicit their support for the Hong Kong athletes.
The Flag Presentation Ceremony cum Torch Relay of the HKSAR delegation will be held at 10am on September 12 at the Kowloon Park Sports Centre. The relay will take place inside the Kowloon Park so as to avoid disturbance to the traffic and the public caused by road closure. After the flag presentation ceremony, five athletes for the 11th National Games will take part in the Torch Relay.
Ends/Sunday, August 16, 2009
Issued at HKT 19:14
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