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Recreation, Sport, Culture and the Arts

countries took part in the show in March 2015 at Victoria Park, attracting more than 590,000 visitors.

Recreation and Sports Venues

Hong Kong Stadium

The Hong Kong Stadium is the territory's largest outdoor sports venue, with seating for 40,000 people. It is mainly used for football and international rugby matches and large-scale community events. The stadium was closed in April 2015 for turf pitch reconstruction with a view to enhancing the long-term quality and durability of the turf pitch. It reopened in November to stage the Asia Rugby Sevens Qualifier. About 176,500 people attended seven events held at the stadium during the year, including the popular annual Hong Kong Sevens and the Lunar New Year AET Cup 2015 between South China and New York Cosmos.

Mong Kok Stadium

The Mong Kok Stadium has a seating capacity of 6,668 and is an important venue for sporting and community events. It is one of the major venues for the Hong Kong Premier League and the training ground for the national squad. More than 320,000 people attended the 74 events at the stadium in 2015, including the Asian Football Confederation Cup, the 2018 Fifa World Cup cum 2019 AFC Asian Cup Preliminary Joint Qualification, the 38th Guangdong-Hong Kong Cup and two international friendly matches Hong Kong held with Guam and Myanmar.

Water Sports Centres and Holiday Camps

The LCSD manages five water sports centres: Chong Hing, Tai Mei Tuk, The Jockey Club Wong Shek, St Stephen's Beach and Stanley Main Beach. It also runs four holiday camps, the Lady MacLehose Holiday Village, Sai Kung Outdoor Recreation Centre, Tso Kung Tam Outdoor Recreation Centre and Lei Yue Mun Park. In 2015, about 123,000 people took part in events at the water sports centres and 500,000 visited or stayed at the holiday camps.

Other Recreation and Sports Venues

The department manages 96 sports centres, 43 swimming pool complexes, 256 tennis courts, 294 squash courts, 25 sports grounds, four golf-driving ranges and two public riding schools. Works for seven other major projects are under way.

Beaches and Swimming Pools

Swimming is one of Hong Kong's most popular summer pastimes. The department manages 41 gazetted public beaches and 43 public swimming pool complexes. In 2015, some 13 million. people used the public beaches and 13.5 million visited public swimming pools.

Recreation and Sports Organisations

Hong Kong Sports Institute Limited

The sports institute seeks to provide an environment in which sports talent can be identified, nurtured and developed. Besides access to high-quality sports facilities, the support given to athletes includes coaching and training, sports science and sports medicine, education and

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