Introduction to the HKSAR Delegation

 

The 1^st Student (Youth) Games of the People’s Republic of China (National Student (Youth) Games or NSYG) will be held in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region from 5 to 15 November 2023.  The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government has set up an Organising Committee of the HKSAR Delegation (OC) to handle all matters relating to the participation of the HKSAR Delegation in the Games.  The OC is led by Mr. Timothy FOK, President of the Sports Federation & Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, China (SF&OC), and consists of members from the SF&OC, the sports sector, the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau, and the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD).  The LCSD has assumed the Secretariat duties of the OC.  To effectively take forward the various specific duties for the formation of the HKSAR Delegation and deal with appeals relating to participation in the Games, an Executive Committee (EC) and an Appeal Board have been set up under the OC.  The EC has invited seven veterans from the sports sector as co-opted members to solicit their advice on the HKSAR Delegation’s participation in the NSYG.

According to the methods of participation stipulated in the general rules and regulations of the NSYG, preliminary rounds are required for five major competitions in School Category, including football, basketball, volleyball, table tennis and aerobics.  For other events, participants are granted direct entry to the finals.  For Open Category, the eligibility for participating in the finals of eight major competitions, namely football, basketball (basketball and 3-on-3 basketball), volleyball (excluding beach volleyball), handball, hockey, baseball/softball (baseball and softball), water polo and rugby, has to be secured through preliminary rounds.  For the remaining competitions, participants are granted direct entry to the finals.  The Organiserlater announced that cheerleading of aerobics would not have preliminary rounds and the HKSAR delegation was granted exemption from the preliminary rounds and given direct entry to the finals for certain team sport competitions in Open Category, including football, basketball, 3-on-3 basketball, volleyball, handball, baseball, softball, water polo and rugby.

For competitions of which participants are granted direct entry to the finals, the EC has finished vetting the lists of athletes nominated by national sports associations (NSAs) according to the selection criteria endorsed by the OC.  Including the athletes who have been granted exemption from qualifier matches, the Hong Kong delegation comprises of an estimated total of 720 athletes (as of 5 October 2023) who will compete in 34 finals of the NSYG , 7 sports (namely athletics, swimming, table tennis, badminton, cheerleading, wushu and shuttlecock in School Category) and 27 sports in Open Category (namely cycling, fencing, triathlon, equestrian, sailing, rowing, , judo, taekwondo, athletics, swimming (swimming, diving, artistic swimming and water polo), gymnastics (artistic gymnastics, trampoline and rhythmic gymnastics), handball, golf, football, basketball (5-on-5 Basketball & 3-on 3 Basketball), volleyball (volleyball, beach volleyball), table tennis, badminton, tennis, sport climbing, breaking, baseball/ softball (baseball and softball), wushu (taolu), finswimming, acrobatic gymnastics, roller sports and modern pentathlon.