A senior Hong Kong Sports Institute (HKSI) official has warned that proposed changes to the athletic training body's role could be damaging to sports development.
Trisha Leahy, head of the HKSI's technical services division, said the institute should be reserved for Hong Kong's top echelon of athletes. She also warned that plans to rent out the HKSI's facilities to generate income could backfire.
The institute and the Hong Kong Sports Development Board (SDB) will be restructured after the government's decision to set up a sports commission to oversee sport. Under the proposals, the institute will become an incorporated body with its outdoor facilities being managed by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD). Indoor facilities such as squash courts would remain under HKSI control.
The Hong Kong Sports Development Board, meanwhile, would be scrapped to make way for the new sports commission.
But Leahy believed the government was making a wrong move by allowing the LCSD to take charge of the institute's facilities. Being managed by the LCSD would mean the facilities would be open for the public's use. But Leahy said the income generated by rent would not cover the loss of corporate sponsorship - something the HKSI would be encouraged to do after incorporation.
'In other countries where sports institutions have secured corporate sponsorships, the deals are done in return for the companies holding exclusive training camps at the institutes,' she said.