Array of city sports stars to lead East Asian Games torch relay

'Golden girl' Lee Lai-shan and leading athletes Wong Kam-po, Wang Chen, Zhou Mi and Lee Wai-lim will lead Hong Kong's 60-plus-member squad for the 2009 East Asian Games torch relay on August 29.

The four-kilometre relay begins at Kowloon Park, then heads along Nathan Road and the Tsim Sha Tsui promenade before crossing the harbour to finish at Golden Bauhinia Square in Wan Chai.

The event will mark the commencement of the 100-day countdown to the nine-day Games, the first multi-sport games to be held in Hong Kong, which begin in December 5.

'The date is not exactly 100 days before the Games, but we picked the closest Saturday afternoon in order to avoid the hectic traffic in the area, as advised by the police,' said a source close to the Games organisers.

'We will not compare it with the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games torch relay in Hong Kong, because the two are different in terms of scale, impact and international awareness,' the source added.

The final number of torch-bearers is yet to be confirmed. Organisers are awaiting replies from potential participants. However, the squad will not exceed 70. Each participant will run a maximum of 100 metres before passing the torch, and the event will take less than two hours.

In May 2008, the Beijing Olympic torch was carried on a 6.5-hour run through 10 districts by 119 torch-bearers.