Volunteers for Games events set to be put through their paces

More than 2,000 office workers, students, housewives and professionals will soon start preparing to share their passion for the Olympics this summer as volunteers for the equestrian events.

The 2,400 volunteers, selected from 15,910 applicants, will undergo 'real-combat' training at the competition and service venues at Sha Tin and Beas River from this month.

Of them, 1,800 will work for the Olympic Games in August, while the other 600 people will serve at the Paralympic Games in September. Some will work at both events.

Horace Yuen Hoi-sing, director of corporate administration of the Hong Kong Equestrian Company, said the volunteer team comprised a good mix of people from all walks of life who had various cultural backgrounds.

The company said that about a third of the volunteers had full-time jobs, a third were self-employed, job seekers or retired people, and the rest were students. There are twice as many females as males.

'One of the major concerns for us in recruitment is the person's availability during the events period ... We have many student volunteers as they will have a free hand to help during the summer vacation,' Mr Yuen said.

Over the past two years, the company recruited three batches of volunteers, with the last batch starting to receive training in April.