ENG-2015 — Page 378

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Recreation, Sport, Culture and the Arts

Sporting Achievements

The year 2015 was notable for the dual achievements of billiard athlete Ng On-yee. In April, Ng won the World Champion title at the 2015 WLBSA World Ladies Championship held in Leeds, England, then in August, she grabbed another global title by emerging champion at the IBSF World 6-Reds & Team Snooker Championships held in Karachi, Pakistan.

Other elite athletes also made remarkable strides in their respective disciplines. Tenpin bowling player Wu Siu-hong won the first World Champion title at the 51st Bowling World Cup held in Las Vegas, US, while gymnast Shek Wai-hung secured a gold medal in the Men's Vault of the 6th Senior Artistic Gymnastics Asian Championships held in Hiroshima, Japan, becoming the first Asian champion in artistic gymnastics. Squash player Au Chun-ming clinched first place at the 18th Asian Individual Championship held in Kuwait.

At the 28th Summer Universiade held in Gwangju, South Korea, swimmer Stephanie Au Hoi- shun won a silver medal in the women's 50m backstroke.

Disabled table tennis player Wong Ka-man and swimmer Tang Wai-lok received the awards of Best Female Athlete and Best Male Athlete respectively during the 1st Inas Awards at the Inas General Assembly held in Sheffield, United Kingdom. Hong Kong's disabled athletes also attained brilliant results at the 2015 Special Olympics World Summer Games, collecting altogether 122 medals - 59 gold, 40 silver and 23 bronze.

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Recreation and Sports Programmes

In 2015, the LCSD organised some 38,000 recreation and sports programmes for about 2.54 million participants of all ages and abilities at a total cost of $153 million.

District Sports Teams Training Scheme

A total of 10,837 young people took part in 284 district team events for basketball, football, handball and fencing in 2015.

Young Athletes Training Scheme

In 2015, 30,017 teenagers joined training in 30 sports disciplines under a Young Athletes Training Scheme.

School Sports Programme

The School Sports Programme provides a wide range of sports programmes for students and comprises seven subsidiary programmes: Sport Education, Easy Sport, Outreach Coaching, Joint Schools Sports Training, Sport Captain, the Badges Award Scheme and the Sports Award Scheme. In 2015, 611,500 students took part in 8,138 sporting events. The School Sports Programme Coordinator Scheme continues to be implemented to foster a strong sporting culture on school campuses while providing a career training platform for retired athletes.

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