Tokyo Olympics to be focus of this year’s Hong Kong Festival of Sport after a challenging 2020
- Organisers want to raise awareness of Hong Kong’s quest for medals at this summer’s Games with promotions and mini exhibitions
- Around 60 competitions for the 2020 festival were cancelled because of Covid-19 with organisers promoting home exercise
Festival of Sport (FOS) organisers will this year focus on an Olympic theme to build awareness among the public of Hong Kong’s quest for medals at the Tokyo Games.
The 2020 event was affected by the Covid-19 pandemic with around 60 FOS-related competitions cancelled. Organisers adapted to the “new norm” with “Sports Meet on the Table” and “Sports for All” campaigns encouraging Hongkongers to play traditional Chinese table games as well as exercise at home.
Tony Yue Kwok-leung, chairman of the Hong Kong Olympic Committee’s FOS programme, said a measure of uncertainty still surrounds 2021 because of the coronavirus even though Tokyo Olympics chiefs insist the Games will go ahead in late July.
“It all depends on the Olympics,” Yue said. “The Olympics start on July 23 and the Festival of Sport is from April to June so the campaign plan is to engage the Hong Kong public on Olympic sports.
“Everyone in the sporting community wants the Olympics to go ahead and we hope we can organise mini exhibitions around Hong Kong to give people a sense of excitement about our athletes’ participation in the Games.”
The 2020 festival saw sailor Tong Yui-shing, fencer Sophia Wu, cyclist Ma Wing-yu and hurdler Tang Hon-sing acting as ambassadors, encouraging people to exercise and stay healthy even as they were forced to stay at home because of the coronavirus.
