Sports chief criticises parties over Games
The head of the city's Olympic committee says political parties are refusing to support sports development in Hong Kong because of their own 'political concerns'.
Timothy Fok Tsun-ting, president of the Sports Federation & Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, criticised the parties for not supporting a bid by the city to host the 2023 Asian Games.
'The true Olympic spirit is to forgo all political and commercial interests to fully dedicate to the development of sports,' said Fok, who is also legislator for the sports, performing arts, culture and publication functional constituency. 'Perhaps the political parties have their own political concerns that constrain them from supporting the development of sports in Hong Kong.' He refused to say what such concerns might be.
The government is fighting an uphill battle to secure support from the Legislative Council to approve financing of a bid to host the Games, amid opposition from the main political parties - the Democrats, the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong and the Civic Party.
Lawmaker Kam Nai-wai, of the Democrats, said sport could not be completely separated from politics.
'The government always stresses that the main purpose of bidding for the Games is to foster community bonding,' he said. 'What does community bonding have to do with sport? It is clear they have a political concern too. Our political concern is how government funding is spent in better promoting sports development.' He said supporting sports development did not necessary mean supporting a bid for the Games.
