National Games 2025: Hong Kong to launch planning talks with co-hosts this month as sports chief backs city to stage opening ceremony

Hong Kong, Guangdong and Macau – named last month as the co-hosts of the 15th National Games of China – are set to hold discussions this month on how to organise the event

Governments are forming joint organising committee, but Guangdong province seen as likely to take a leading role

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China’s 14th National Games started this week, with Hong Kong one of the co-hosts for the next event. Photo: Getty Images

Published: 8:01pm, 15 Sep 2021Updated: 11:44pm, 15 Sep 2021

Hong Kong officials will meet China’s governing body for sports and two other co-hosts of the 2025 National Games this month to start planning talks, as a senior Olympics administrator in the city suggested it should stage the opening ceremony.

Yeung Tak-keung, the city’s commissioner for sports, said on Wednesday that another ceremony in September handing over responsibility for organising the Games to the next hosts would allow representatives from Hong Kong, Guangdong and Macau to hold preliminary exchanges with the General Administration of Sport of China, the national agency overseeing the event.

“The next National Games is an important task for Hong Kong. It is our first time that we have undertaken such a large-scale project, so we need to look back at the experiences of other countries and see what type of programmes are suitable for Hong Kong,” he told a radio show.

Hong Kong along with neighbouring Macau and Guangdong province will host the 15th National Games of China, scheduled for 2025.

Earlier this week, Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor revealed her intention to set up a new bureau to foster sports and cultural development.

Lam’s chief adviser Bernard Chan, said on Wednesday that more details would be made available in the first quarter of next year, with responsibility for implementation left to the next administration.