ENG-2010 — Page 482

404 Recreation, Sport and the Arts

Games, Asian Indoor Games and East Asian Games. With a membership of 74 National Sports Associations (NSAs) and sports organisations, it represents the collective voice of the Hong Kong sports community.

Members of the federation are NSAs, which are in turn affiliated to their international federations (IFs) and Asian federations (AFS). They are empowered to co-ordinate and conduct a wide range of activities related to their sports, from organising sports and recreational programmes for beginners to training elite athletes. They also organise and sanction participations in local and overseas competitions and tournaments, and train coaches and referees. NSAs implement and enforce local and international rules and regulations, and represent Hong Kong in meetings of the IFS and the AFS.

The federation has co-ordinated a four-month Festival of Sport each year for half a century. More than 70 of the festival's sporting activities were organised by over 60 NSAs to promote sport for all. It also organises extensive educational programmes for sports leaders, administrators, coaches and technical officials free of charge, notably through the Hong Kong Olympic Academy which offers free sports management and sport science courses and programmes.

The federation launched a comprehensive retirement scheme, called 'Hong Kong Athletes Career Programme' (HKACEP) in September 2008 in response to a proposal made by the Chief Executive in his Policy Address.

The scheme provides financial support from the Government and commercial sponsors for Hong Kong's top athletes to obtain an education and develop a career for their post-athletic life. More than 100 athletes from 34 NSAs have been benefiting from the scheme in the past two years.

The Hong Kong Anti-Doping Committee, established as an independent committee under the auspices of the federation in April 2008, continued to operate and is committed to preserving a doping-free environment for fair play in sport and is responsible for the planning and implementation of the anti-doping programme in Hong Kong.

With the support of sponsors, the federation organises the annual Hong Kong Sports Stars Awards, the 'Oscars' of local sport, to recognise the achievements of top athletes. The presentation of Bank of China (Hong Kong) Sports Stars Awards 2009 was held in conjunction with the federation's annual spring dinner in March. Athlete Wong Steven Patrick Marie Josee was awarded the most coveted Bank of China (Hong Kong) Best of Best Hong Kong Sports Star Award.

With the remarkable achievement at the 5th East Asian Games in Hong Kong in 2009, local athletes excelled again at the Guangzhou 2010 Asian Games, garnering 40 medals: eight gold, 15 silver and 17 bronze to rank 11th in the Games medals tally, an impressive achievement for a city of Hong Kong's size.