ENG-1956 — Page 317

SPORT

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Sea fishing, always a favourite local recreation, has also increased in popularity.

Now that the more accessible beaches are being rapidly filled at holidays and week-ends there has been an increase in the number of people who are making use of yachts and other small pleasure craft to penetrate to the more secluded beaches of the New Territories. Yacht racing itself continues to prosper as a sport in its own right and a number of successful inter-port regattas have been held.

One of the changes in the last year has been the develop- ment of games and athletics in the rural areas of the New Territories. Basketball, Volley-ball and Soccer are flourish- ing and the personal appearance of Bob Matthias, the former United States Olympic Decathlon Champion, gave a boost to the annual New Territories' sports meeting.

Contrary to earlier expectations, Hong Kong had only two representatives at the Olympic Games, both swimmers, of whom Cheung Kin Man also represented the Colony at the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki.

In the sphere of international competition Hong Kong can now field first class teams in Association Football, Volley- ball, Basketball, Table-tennis and Badminton.