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Kwai Tsing District is the overall champion of the 1st Hong Kong Games after three weeks of competitions in athletics, badminton, basketball and table tennis, involving 1,287 athletes from 18 districts.
The winning district was announced at the Closing and Prize Presentation Ceremony at Hong Kong Park Sports Centre today (May 6).
The Secretary for Home Affairs, Dr Patrick Ho, congratulated all participating athletes on their dedication and sportsmanship.
He also praised the 18 District Councils, the participating units of the Games, for mobilising people within their districts to assist in forming and training their teams, thus giving fresh impetus to the development of community relations and community sports.
"Apart from promoting a sense of belonging within each district, the Games has also strengthened communication among the 18 districts and enhanced social cohesion, both very conducive to the building of a harmonious society, which carries a special meaning in the 10th anniversary of the Hong Kong Administrative Region,” Dr Ho said.
The 1st Hong Kong Games, the first territory-wide multi-sport games, was one of the major programmes to celebrate the 10th anniversary.
Kwai Tsing not only won the overall championship by accumulating the highest scores from all four sports of the Games but also came first in table tennis and basketball and second in athletics. In men’s athletics, Kwai Tsing runners won gold in six of the eight running races.
Sha Tin was athletics champion and Tuen Mun was the badminton champion.
In all, 120 medals equally divided between gold, silver and bronze were awarded to athletes in 40 competitive events.
True to the spirit of “Sports for All”, the youngest participant of the Games was an eight-year-old boy on North District’s table tennis team, while the oldest was a 72-year-old lady from Southern District, also a table tennis contestant.
At today’s ceremony, awards were also presented to outstanding cheering teams for their performances at the Opening Ceremony on April 21. The cheering team from Central and Western District won both the Best Performance Award and the Best Local Characteristics Award.
Other officiating guests at today’s ceremony were the Permanent Secretary for Home Affairs, Mrs Carrie Lam; the President of the Sports Federation & Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, China, Mr Timothy Fok; the Chairman of the Organising Committee of the 1st Hong Kong Games, Mr Chau How-chen, and the Director of Leisure and Cultural Services, Mr Thomas Chow.
During the ceremony, elite table tennis players Ko Lai-chak and Tang Peng played a friendly match with the winning team in men’s table tennis doubles.
After the Ceremony, Mr Chau officiated at two lucky draws to select the winners of the “My Favourite Sporty District” voting game and “Overall Champion” guessing game, community participation events launched in the run-up to the Games.
Wan Chai was voted "My Favourite Sporty District", winning 10,710 of the more than 53,748 votes cast. A total of 48,767 people had entered the "Overall Champion" guessing game.
Ends/Sunday, May 6, 2007
Issued at HKT 17:10
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