60pc of East Asian Games tickets sold
Nearly 60 per cent of the 330,000 tickets for the East Asian Games have been sold, two months before the opening ceremony.
Tickets for some events such as diving, bowling, cue sports, BMX, dance sport, judo, taekwondo and wushu have sold out, according to a Home Affairs Bureau paper submitted to the Legislative Council.
About 120,000 tickets have been bought by the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust for free distribution to students, while the remaining 210,000 are for public sale. They first went on sale to the public in August.
More than 90 per cent of the tickets are priced at HK$50 and HK$100. A half-price concession is offered to senior citizens, the disabled and full- time students.
The bureau said problems with the track at the HK$400 million Tseung Kwan O Sports Ground had been fixed after the venue was closed last month for repairs.
A 'minor protuberance' found earlier on the track at the venue had been repaired by the material suppliers, the bureau said.
Construction work for the Hong Kong Jockey Club International BMX Park, which will serve as the venue for the BMX cycling event, is expected to be completed early next month.
'This is the first BMX park in Hong Kong that meets international standards. The park will be officially opened at the end of October and test events will be conducted before the East Asian Games,' the bureau said in the paper.
The bureau said test events would be held at the various venues to be used for competition, so that operational staff could familiarise themselves with them.
Competition venues would be temporarily closed starting in early or mid-November to carry out decoration work and to prepare them for the Games, the bureau said in the paper.
Undersecretary for Home Affairs Florence Hui Hiu-fai yesterday called on the taxi industry to help promote the Games to both local people and tourists.
She said the events would attract more than 10,000 overseas visitors and 200,000 locals to watch competition at various venues between December 5 and 13.
