The Hong Kong Sports Development Board ceased its subvention functions to the NSAs from April 2004. The function was transferred to the LCSD, which has become the one-stop funding agent to disburse subventions to NSAs and sports associations for organising sports events, training programmes and competitions. During the year, the department provided subventions totalling $136 million to 7,667 sports programmes for over 635,200 participants.

NSAs were given subsidies under the scheme to organise 88 international events held locally to provide more opportunities for spectators and enthusiasts to watch sports events at an international level, and to stimulate their interest in sports. The events included the Hong Kong International Dragon Boat Races, the 9^th Asian Cities Gold Cup Taekwondo Tournament, the 19^th Asian Rugby Football Tournament, the 13^th Nanowater Super Kung Sheung Cup Basketball Invitation Championship, the 5^th Asian Hong Kong Rowing Championships, the Grand Prix Volleyball Competition, the World Hong Kong Luminous Dragon Dance and Lion Dance Championships, the Asian Schools Football Championships and the visit to Hong Kong of the Athens Olympics gold medallists of the Chinese National Team.

	Intense competition during the FIVB World Grand Prix.

The Sports Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, China, with LCSD's assistance, invited the Chinese National Team Athens Olympics gold medallists to visit Hong Kong and participated in an extravaganza and gave sports demonstrations featuring badminton, table tennis, diving and volleyball. More than 46,000 people turned out for the visit.

The perfect dive by a visiting Athens Olympics gold medallist from the Chinese National Team.

The NSAs also organised more than 270 local competitions for 126,400 participants. The competitions were designed to foster a sports culture among players and spectators. The major events with spectator appeal were the Adidas Streetball Challenge, the Nike Hong Kong Football Five, and the 16^th Hong Kong Sports Climbing Championships.

Sports promotion schemes and training courses are important components of the subvented programmes. These sports development programmes in 2004 included regional squad training, school sports programmes and various training schemes such as the Hang Seng Table-tennis Academy-New Generation Table-tennis Training Course, the Bank of China (Hong Kong) Badminton (Award) Training Scheme, the McDonald Youth Football Scheme, the Nike Hong Kong Youth (Boys & Girls) Basketball Training Scheme, the Youth Windsurfing Promotion Scheme, and the Youth Wushu Training Course.