Introduction to the HKSAR Delegation

 

The 2nd National Youth Games (2nd NYG) is held in Taiyuan City of Shanxi Province from 8 to 18 August 2019.  In December 2018, The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) set up an Organising Committee of the HKSAR Delegation (OC) to handle all matters pertaining to the participation of the HKSAR Delegation (Delegation) in the Games.  OC is chaired by Mr Timothy FOK, President of the Sports Federation & Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, China (SF&OC), and consists of members from SF&OC, the sports sector, the Home Affairs Bureau and the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD). LCSD has assumed the Secretariat duties of OC.  To take forward the specific work for the formation of the Delegation and process the appeals relating to participation more efficiently, an Executive Committee (EC) and an Appeal Board have been set up under OC.  EC has also invited 7 veterans of the sports sector to join as co-opted members in order to draw on their expert advice on the participation of the Delegation in the 2nd NYG.

According to the regulations set by the General Administration of Sport of China, while the places for the finals for certain events have to be secured through participating in the preliminary rounds of competitions, the HKSAR Delegation has been granted direct entry to the finals of the remaining sports events.

From March to May, the Delegation sent a total of 131 athletes to take part in the preliminary rounds of 4 events in the 2nd NYG, namely swimming (water polo), handball, volleyball (volleyball, beach volleyball) and baseball/softball (baseball).  The Hong Kong teams have successfully gained entry to the finals of swimming (water polo), handball, volleyball (beach volleyball) and baseball/softball (baseball) events.

For those events that have been granted direct entry to the finals, EC had finished vetting the lists of athletes nominated by National Sports Associations (NSAs) according to the selection criteria endorsed by OC.  Together with the 4 events in which we have secured final places through the preliminary rounds, Hong Kong has sent a total of 620 athletes to compete in 27 final events of the 2nd NYG, namely archery, cycling, fencing, triathlon, equestrian, canoeing (canoe sprint), weightlifting, judo, athletics, swimming (swimming, Artistic Swimming, water polo), gymnastics (artistic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics), handball, football, volleyball (beach volleyball), table tennis, badminton, tennis, golf, skateboarding, sport climbing, baseball/softball (baseball, softball), karatedo, wushu (taolu, sanda), dragon boating, dancesport, skating (short track speed skating, figure skating) and ice hockey.

Hong Kong athletes have achieved encouraging results in various major international sport events in recent years.  NYG helps identify and nurture talents to become successors in the local sports sector.  It also provides an opportunity for young local athletes to exchange skills with Mainland athletes and improve their personal bests for a warm-up for the pursuit of excellence in future.  In the last NYG, our athletes won a total of 4 medals (1 gold, 1 silver and 2 bronze medals).  In addition to the 620 athletes, the Delegation to the 2nd NYG also includes 189 staff members providing support and assistance, such as team leaders, coaches and supporting staff from the relevant NSAs as well as medical and supporting staff from the Hong Kong Sports Institute, bringing the total number of delegation members to 809.

(Information as of 8 July 2019)