New head of Hong Kong sports group targets improvement in schools, vows to tackle touts
- Professor Patrick Yung, a sports medicine expert, has been made chairman of the Community Sports Committee
- The orthopaedic sports medicine expert is keen to encourage the city’s children to be more active
New Community Sports Committee chairman Professor Patrick Yung Shu-hang wants to boost sports in Hong Kong’s schools, and hopes the success of the city’s athletes at the Tokyo Olympics will help inspire the next generation of stars.
Yung, who was vice-chairman for the past four years before being promoted earlier this month, will have Eric Fok Kai-shan, the No 2 at the Hong Kong Football Association, as his deputy.
The committee was one of the three bodies set up in 2005 to advise the government on the policies, strategies and implementation framework for sports development in Hong Kong. The other two were the Elite Sports Committee and the Major Sports Events Committee.
While the committee is tasked with improving several areas, Yung, who is considered to be a leader in orthopaedic sports medicine, wants to place the emphasis on school sports.
“Many of the sports programmes in school have been suspended because of the Covid-19 pandemic over the last couple of years,” he said. “And with the pandemic easing, it’s time to look at these programmes and see what we can do and do it better.
“Not only because of the pandemic, we all understand the importance of school sports and the promotion of exercise among the students, but this is not easy, especially in a society like Hong Kong.”