Community Sports Club BulletinLeisure and Cultural Services Department
From the Editor
Page 2
The HKSAR Government strives to further sports development in Hong Kong, aligning with the goals of promoting sports in the community, supporting elite sports, maintaining the city as a centre for major international sports events, enhancing professionalism and developing sports as an industry. On the training of sports managers, the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD), in collaboration with Dr. Stephen Hui Research Centre for Physical Recreation and Wellness of the Hong Kong Baptist University, organises the Community Sports Club Management Development Programme, with a view to enhancing the management skills of sports practitioners. Those aspiring to contribute towards sports management are welcome to the Programme. The “Featured Report” in this issue gives a brief introduction to the Programme.
Table tennis is a “Tier A” high performance sport in Hong Kong, which means that its athletes consistently achieve outstanding results at international major games, or have the potential to be medallists at the Olympic Games. Such remarkable successes would not have been possible without the persistent efforts by the respective National Sports Association. The Hong Kong, China Table Tennis Association (HKCTTA) has, since its establishment in 1936, been committed to promoting the sport by nurturing players, coaches and referees, liaising with overseas organisations for promotion of sporting exchanges, and staging local and international events over the years, which enhance the city’s prestige in table tennis internationally, thereby laying a robust foundation for the sport’s development. In the “Portraits of National Sports Association” this time, we take a look at the past development of HKCTTA.
We introduce Yu Kin-ting, a Hong Kong judo elite, in this issue of “Sports Hero”. Yu currently works as a primary PE teacher who is tasked with coordinating school judo training programmes. Besides, he was a former member of the Hong Kong, China Judo Squad who brought home Hong Kong’s first gold medal in judo at the 2009 East Asian Games. To Yu, judo is a body-mind activity that builds physical strength and strengthens mental resilience, attaching greater importance to personal growth than results. With the motto “no pain, no gain”, Yu amply displays his sportsmanship.
We highlight lawn bowls in the “Sports Recommendation” this time. Put simply, lawn bowls requires players to roll the bowls towards the place as close as possible to the jack, and the one with the bowls closest to the jack wins. A simple yet assessible sport for all ages, lawn bowls involves use of evolving tactics, with its competitions divided into singles, doubles, triples and fours. Given this, the sport not only demands good skills among individual players but also emphasises tactics and teamwork. A highly competitive sport, lawn bowls witnesses enhanced skill levels among players, thanks to its competition rules, adding to the appeal of the game. Lawn bowls has emerged as a sport for all, with the numbers of players and audience on the increase.
This issue of “New Stars” features interviews with two young boxers, Wong Kei-laam and Tang Kit-fu. At the age of 17, Wong won his first amateur competition with just a year of practice. In 2023, he competed at an Asian game but lost by technical knockout in the first round. With a similar experience with Wong, Tang, now 16, clinched a victory at his debut match, but was defeated by his Mongolian opponent at an Asian youth championship. There are always ups and downs in the life of an athlete. Despite all these experiences, both of them still aspire to be great boxers, displaying their great resilience.
The Paris 2024 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games have now drawn to a successful close. Following a launching ceremony, the LCSD set up the “Olympics Focal Sites” at 18 designated sports centres to broadcast the Olympics competitions, so that members of the public could experience this spectacular event. For highlights of the ceremony, please refer to the “Sports Kaleidoscope” in this issue.
The “12th National Traditional Games of Ethnic Minorities of the People’s Republic of China” has now come to an end. Hong Kong sent athletes to compete in the event and won various prizes, more details of which are covered in the “Latest News on Recreation and Sports” in this issue. Commissioned last year, Tin Sau Road Swimming Pool in Tin Shui Wai features a heated swimming pool facility to address the needs of winter swimmers. Please also note the “Latest News on Recreation and Sports” for details.