The 5th East Asian Games will be held in Hong Kong from December 5 -13, 2009. Around 2,300 elite athletes from nine countries/regions will take part, competing for a total of 262 gold medals across 22 sports.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with China Daily, Secretary for Home Affairs Tsang Tak-sing expresses exhilaration about the coming of the East Asian Games with Hong Kong as the host city.

He hopes Hong Kong athletes will do well and win medals. And if the East Asian Games turns out to be a successful event, it will play a very positive role in the development of sports in the city.

On the countdown to the East Asian Games, the preparation work has been on the whole quite smooth, he said. All the venues are ready according to schedule, including the construction of the new BMX cycling park especially built for the coming competition.

Ticket sales are also very satisfactory, with more than 60 percent of the 330,000 tickets sold by now, he disclosed.

Among the tickets sold, The Hong Kong Jockey Club has sponsored 120,000 tickets and will distribute them to local students to enable them to watch the sport competitions in the interest of charity and promotion of sports among the young people.

He feels that the ticket sales were by far quite satisfactory because there are some minority sports not well known to the local audiences, citing that there were not always full-house occasions for the competitions of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the recent 11th National Games held in Shandong province.

As to participation of athletes from the Chinese mainland, Tsang was aware that a preliminary list was drawn up. The General Administration of Sport of China will finalize the list in due course with reference to the results of 11th National Games.

"There is a very great chance that star athletes, like hurdle king Liu Xiang and diving queen Guo Jingjing, who are loved by the Hong Kong people, will come. I believe it will create a mania when the list of the mainland athletes is announced," he beamed.

"China is the number one sporting country, winning the greatest number of gold medals in the 2008 Olympics. They will be sending their top-notch athletes to Hong Kong this time," he said.

"Coupled with the good results of Hong Kong athletes from the 11th National Games, I believe the coming East Asian Games will be highly attractive. And as Hong Kong athletes have the home-ground advantage, there is a good chance that they will win medals."

As for the chance of Hong Kong athletes winning medals, he anticipated that Hong Kong will do well in several events.

"The sports associations told me that the strongest areas of Hong Kong are squash, wind surfing and cycling. We will also have a chance in table tennis," Tsang said with great enthusiasm.

The home affairs chief is also very confident that Liu's participation will attract large audiences.

The tickets of some of the events are already sold out, he noted. For 10 of the sports events, the entire contest from preliminary to final stages will be televised live, and he believes television broadcasting of the competition will help enhance the atmosphere of the East Asian Games and actively help promote sports development in Hong Kong.

The home affairs minister also likened the East Asian Games to last year's Olympic equestrian event, which was held in Hong Kong, and praised the audiences as beautiful people who behaved so decorously.

The audiences made very little noise in order not to spook the horses, as requested by the organizing authority, Tsang recalled. Even when it rained, the audiences displayed the utmost consideration by wearing rain coats, instead of putting up umbrellas, so as not to block the line of sight of those sitting behind them.

"Public opinions, including international opinions, praised our audiences as acting in a most civil manner, and I hope they will demonstrate the same kind of virtue again this year," he rejoiced. "If equestrian events, which are not a sport for the majority of the people in Hong Kong, managed to attract so many spectators, I am sure that a multi-sport event and the participation of Liu Xiang will attract a great many spectators too."

In particular, he said the opening ceremony of the East Asian Games will be a spectacular, as it will be held in Victoria Harbour, with a stage being built on the water.

Tsang also said the East Asian Games would show the other faces of Hong Kong.

It is a cultural East Asian Games because arts and cultural shows will be performed during that period to enable the tourists see special aspects of Hong Kong, he explained.

It is also a green East Asian Games. The Tseung Kwan O Sports Ground, the home to the games, is a purpose-built sports ground for international athletics competitions and is incorporated with various environmental design concepts and an outside-the-box track in green.

It is also an energetic East Asian Games that reflects the dynamics of Hong Kong and the participation of the local people.

"The scale of the East Asian Games cannot compare to that of the Beijing Olympics, but we hope that through the games, people will see a civilized, efficient Hong Kong society with unique characteristics," Tsang said.

The hosting of the East Asian Games carries a landmark meaning for Hong Kong, added the home affairs minister.

For historical reasons, Hong Kong never before hosted an international multi-sport competition before the handover, among them being because it was not in a position to make bids to become a host city.

"Last year, we co-hosted the Beijing Olympics equestrian event and this year we will host the East Asian Games; these two events provide a clear direction forward for the development of sports in Hong Kong 12 years after the handover," Tsang said.

(HK Edition 11/06/2009 page4)