RECREATION, SPORT AND THE ARTS
Sport and Recreation
A growing number of Hong Kong people enjoy a varied selection of sports and recreational facilities and activities. The LCSD develops and manages facilities such as sports grounds, playgrounds, sports centres, holiday camps, swimming pools and beaches. It also organises training courses, sporting competitions and other activities. for people of all ages and abilities, and encourages passive recreation by providing parks and landscaped open spaces.
In addition, the department administers subventions provided to camps run by non- governmental organisations. There are 25 camps run by 12 separate organisations receiving subventions, and about 762 526 people participated in the activities. organised by these camps during the year.
Hong Kong Sports Development Board
The Hong Kong Sports Development Board is the statutory body responsible for the development of sport and physical recreation in Hong Kong. In 2001-02, the board received a government subvention of $190.5 million, which included a contribution towards the Elite Training Programme for the HKSAR's top athletes at the Hong Kong Sports Institute. The board allocated $109 million to this programme in 2001-02, to provide to 252 scholarship athletes high-level coaching, squad training programmes, meals and accommodation, support in sports science and medicine, education and career guidance and use of training facilities. The key sports in the training programme are athletics, badminton, cycling, fencing, rowing, squash, swimming, table tennis, tennis, tenpin bowling, triathlon, windsurfing and wushu. Separately, under the Disabled Sports Elite Training Programme, the board provided $1.02 million to 15 athletes under the Individual Athletes Support Scheme, and $0.5 million to the Hong Kong Sports Association for the Physically Disabled and the Hong Kong Sports Association for the Mentally Handicapped.
Sporting Achievements
HKSAR athletes achieved significant success in 2002, winning a total of 228 gold, 235 silver and 184 bronze medals at their respective National, Asian and International Championships.
The Hong Kong team achieved unprecedented success in the 14th Asian Games. held in Busan, Republic of Korea. The team brought back 21 medals four gold, six silver and 11 bronze, a record number for Hong Kong in the Asian Games. The gold medals were won in snooker, squash, table tennis and windsurfing; the silver and bronze medals came in rowing, wushu, bodybuilding, karatedo, snooker, windsurfing, cycling, badminton, table tennis and fencing.
Disabled athletes also had a good year. For example, they won 11 medals in the 2002 Wheelchair Fencing Championships held in Hungary six gold, four silver and one bronze. The team competing in the 2002 International Paralympic Committee Athletics World Championships held in France won five medals (two gold, two silver and one bronze), with the gold medallist setting new world records in the men's 100 and 200 metres events. In the 8th FESPIC Games held in Busan, athletes won a total of 41 gold, 25 silver and 26 bronze medals in the competitive and demonstration events; one winner broke the world record in the men's 100 metres. The medal tally ranked Hong Kong fifth among the 43 competing countries and territories.
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