ENG-1995 — Page 427

RECREATION, SPORTS AND THE ARTS

education and employment. The 20 sports were canoe, cycling, diving, badminton, sports for the physically disabled, fencing, gymnastics, judo, rowing, shooting, soccer, squash, swimming, table tennis, tennis, tenpin bowling, track and field, triathlon, windsurfing and wushu.

Sporting Achievements

Hong Kong athletes enjoyed significant success in many international sporting events in 1995. Hong Kong table tennis players were ranked third in women's singles and eighth in women's doubles in the world ranking determined by the International Table Tennis Federation. A Hong Kong windsurfer attained fifth position in the women's overall world ranking announced by the International Yacht Racing Union. At the 43rd World Table Tennis Championship, a bronze medal was won in the women's team event. One bronze medal was also won in the Ladies' Singles event at the 13th World Tenpin Bowling Championships. Hong Kong athletes won seven gold and five bronze medals overall in their respective table tennis and archery Commonwealth Championships.

Seven Hong Kong athletes took part in the First Pacific Ocean Games held in Colombia in July and won a total of six gold, three silver and three bronze medals. The gold medals were in athletics, judo and swimming, the silver medals in cycling and swimming and the bronze medals in judo and swimming.

A contingent of 34 Hong Kong athletes competed in the 1995 World Special Olympics Summer Games held in Connecticut, USA, in July. They brought back 48 gold, 25 silver and eight bronze medals in athletics, badminton, gymnastics, soccer, swimming and table tennis. Hong Kong squash, cross country, cycling and triathlon athletes won two gold, six silver and three bronze medals at their respective Asian Championships.

Amateur Sports Federation & Olympic Committee of Hong Kong

The Amateur Sports Federation & Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1951 as the Olympic committee of the territory, controls Hong Kong's participation in the Olympic, Commonwealth, Asian, East Asian and World Games. It has a membership of 64 national sports associations and is the acknowledged voice of sport in Hong Kong.

Besides promoting sports in the territory, the federation developed sports education programmes for sports administrators, coaches and technical officials. Since the early 1970s, the federation has sponsored sports leaders and athletes to attend courses and conferences held locally and overseas, and sends Hong Kong representatives to the annual International Olympic Academy.

It also sponsors Olympic Solidarity courses every year. Other special sports education activities during the year included the IOC sports medicine course, and the Hong Kong Olympic Academy seminar on sports and the media.

The federation organises local courses on sports leadership, sports administration, sports medicine and sports science, as well as courses on sports management and coaching in conjunction with the United States Sports Academy, and advanced level courses on sports management with the University of Oregon. The annual Hong Kong Festival of Sport is organised by the federation in conjunction with governing

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