ENG-2019 — Page 370

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Recreation, Sport, Culture and the Arts

Hong Kong also achieved outstanding results in two major multi-sport games, including the National Youth Games in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, where the city's youth athletes fetched 11 golds, 12 silvers and 17 bronzes, with the breaking of Hong Kong's youth records in five athletics and swimming events. In the National Games for Persons with Disabilities in Tianjian, the Hong Kong delegation clinched seven golds, eight silvers and 12 bronzes, setting four new swimming records in the games.

The government has been providing full support to Hong Kong athletes in their preparations for and participation in the upcoming Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games. As at end-2019, Hong Kong athletes had qualified for 10 and six events respectively.

Recreation and Sports Programmes

The Home Affairs Bureau and other organisations, including the LCSD, Department of Health, Education Bureau, Sports Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, China, NSAs, district sports associations and schools, provide community sports activities at various levels, encouraging people of different backgrounds, ages, abilities and interests to participate in sports regularly so as to promote the culture of 'Sport for All In 2019, the LCSD organised some 38,400 recreation and sports programmes for about 3.1 million participants of all ages and abilities at a total cost of $210 million.

District Sports Teams Training Scheme

A total of 8,984 young people took part in 240 district team events about basketball, football, handball and fencing.

Young Athletes Training Scheme

Training was conducted for 29,940 teenagers in 32 sports disciplines.

Community Sports Club Project

The project, organised by the LCSD in collaboration with the NSAs, supports about 430 community sports clubs in organising 2,350 training activities for 51,000 participants. Seminars and management development programmes are formulated for over 400 sports volunteers to help them run the clubs.

Promotion of School Sports

The School Sports Programme provided 8,551 sporting events for 612,762 students at 944 primary and secondary schools through seven subsidiary programmes: Sport Education, Easy Sport, Outreach Coaching, Joint Schools Sports Training, Sport Captain, the Badges Award Scheme and the Sports Award Scheme.

The Student Athlete Support Scheme, launched in the 2013-14 school year, is a collaboration between the Home Affairs Bureau and the Hong Kong Schools Sports Federation to help students with financial needs develop their sports potential and pursue sporting goals. In the 2017-18 school year, $6.56 million was allocated to 594 participating schools, benefiting over 18,000 students.

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