The department is responsible for the administration of the Sports Subvention Scheme, which provides funding support to National Sports Associations (NSAs) and other sports organisations for the promotion and development of sport in Hong Kong. In 2015-16, the department provided subvention amounting to $270 million to these bodies. Together, they organised 10 789 sports programmes for more than 755 100 participants.
A total of 72 international events were held in 2015-16 under this scheme. Major events included the FINA Swimming World Cup 2015 – Hong Kong; the 20th Asian Cities Taekwondo Championships; the Hong Kong Inter-city Athletics Championships 2015; the 41st Hong Kong International Open Tenpin Bowling Championships; the 37th Hong Kong Rowing Championships; the Asian Judo Open 2016; the Hong Kong Junior Squash Open 2015; the 2015 Hong Kong ASTC Triathlon Asian Cup; the 2015 Hong Kong Junior & Cadet Open - ITTF Golden Series Junior Circuit; and the Hong Kong Open Junior Tennis Championships 2015.
A total of 468 local competitions were also organised by NSAs. Key events included the Hong Kong Basketball League 2015; the Hong Kong Football Five; the 2015 Hong Kong National Wakeboard Championships; the Hong Kong Cup Archery Tournament; the Hong Kong Indoor Cycling Championships; the Age Groups Fencing Championships; the Hong Kong Schools Rowing Championships 2015; the Hong Kong Open Ranking Table Tennis Championships 2015; the 35th Hong Kong Volleyball Championship; and the Table Tennis Association Cup 2015.
Schemes for promoting sport and sports training schemes are important components of these funded programmes. The sports development programmes held in 2015-16 included school sports programmes and a range of training schemes, such as the Youth Football Development Scheme, the Mini-Squash Scheme, the New Generation Table Tennis Training Course, and the Hong Kong Youth (Boys and Girls) Basketball Training Scheme.
