HK sports chief warns against negative approach to 2009 Games

The lawmaker who represents sport yesterday referred to China's first manned rocket launch when defending Hong Kong's successful bid to host the East Asian Games.

Speaking on RTHK's Letter to Hong Kong, Timothy Fok Tsun-ting said critics of the multi-billion-dollar space programme might also argue that the money could have been better spent on hospitals or other areas.

'But China needs to aim higher and farther because it's the nature of the human species to reach out and test our potential,' he said.

'The same is true with our quest for future games, and I'm not excluding the Olympics from our horizon. An athlete wants what an astronaut wants - to go for glory.'

Last week Hong Kong won the right to host the East Asian Games in 2009.

But critics doubt whether the $170 million spectacle, of which $80 million is to be funded by taxpayers, will provide value for money.