Hong Kong’s Olympic heroes to be celebrated with open-top bus parade through city
- Squad’s haul of six medals – one gold, two silver, three bronze – made Tokyo Games city’s most successful ever
- Parade will start in Hung Hom on Thursday morning and finish at West Kowloon Cultural District for welcome home ceremony
A bus parade carrying Hong Kong’s victorious Olympic athletes will wind its way through the city on Thursday morning in celebration of the team’s historic achievement.
Officials announced on Tuesday that two open-top carrying athletes, coaches and other delegation members would set off from Hung Hom on Thursday morning.
They are expected to travel to the Xiqu Centre, in the West Kowloon Cultural District, to attend a welcome home ceremony.
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Although an official list of who will be present has not been officially announced, Cheung and Sarah Lee will not be there, as the pair are in mainland China preparing for the country’s national games, which run from September 15 to 27.
Of the others, Haughey, table tennis trio Doo Hoi-kem, Minnie Soo Wai-yam, and Lee Ho-ching, and Lau have all completed quarantine after returning from Japan.
“Members of the public are welcome to greet and cheer for the Hong Kong athletes to show their support at the above locations and share the joy of the athletes who successfully challenged themselves and obtained remarkable results,” the Leisure and Cultural Services Department said in a statement.
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It said the best viewing locations for the bus parade for the public would be along Nathan Road and Canton Road. The buses would arrive at the junction of Jordan Road and Nathan Road at around 9.40am, and would then proceed along Nathan Road southbound and tour through the section of Canton Road near Harbour City.
“Members of the public should abide by the relevant anti-epidemic regulations and maintain appropriate social distancing when viewing the bus parade.”
The squad’s heroics placed the city an implausible 49th in the final medal table, one spot behind India – with its seventh biggest economy in the world and second largest population – and ahead of the likes of South Africa, Austria and Portugal, countries with fiercely proud sporting heritages.
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Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor last week unveiled a raft of measures aimed at boosting sports development in the wake of the city’s Olympics triumph, including expediting construction of a major new training facility and setting up a multimillion-dollar fund dedicated to sports science.
