Friendly game:
Chief Secretary Henry Tang pairs up with Yip Pui-yin to play against Amy Chan and Chief Executive's Office Director Raymond Tam in the mixed doubles.
Fun sport:
Despite his knee injury, Chief Secretary Henry Tang enjoys the game.
Role model:
Amy Chan (right) says Yip is different from her peers because she has a goal, and can see herself improve and advance towards it through sports training.
Chief Secretary
The Chief Secretary for Administration assists the Chief Executive in supervising the policy bureaux as directed by him and plays a key role in ensuring coordination in policy formulation and implementation.
Sports Institute
The Hong Kong Sports Institute vision is to become the region's elite training systems delivery leader by providing state-of-the-art, evidence-based, elite sports training and athlete support systems resulting in sustainable world-class sports results.
A goal to strive for
January 11, 2011
A goal in life is essential. Like a strenuous exercise, it makes you stretch. As Chief Secretary Henry Tang says, a successful bid to host the 2023 Asian Games would give the younger generation just such a target to strive towards.
The Chief Secretary, a fervent badminton fan, has played a mixed-doubles friendly with former Commonwealth Games gold medallist Amy Chan against Guangzhou Asian Games bronze medallist Yip Pui-yin and Chief Executive’s Office Director Raymond Tam.
For this foursome, to win or lose did not matter. It was all about enjoying the process.
Mr Tang said the Asian Games bid is about much more than sport. If the proposed bid gets the green light, the community will have more than a clear goal for the next 12 years. It will also bring a host of other benefits, including enhanced infrastructure for all to enjoy, job creation and a rise in visitor numbers.
“We want to give the younger generation, especially the athletes, a target, a goal they can reach for. By organising the Asian Games, not only does it promote the spirit of sport but also allows the younger generation to have something they can work towards.”
He reiterated the bid would have no effect on Government spending on other social facets.
“As far as community resources are concerned, such as welfare, health and labour-related expenses, none of them will be affected” by spending on the bid, he said. The Government is committed to continue and expand the social services it has always budgeted for, he stressed.
He sees the Asian Games bid as a turning point for local sports development. The community will pay more attention to sports, people will get more involved in sports, and sports culture will be bolstered.
As a former elite athlete, Chan said local athletes will be winners whether the bid attempt is successful or not since the issue has already focused people’s interest on local sports development.
Chan, now the headmistress of the Jockey Club’s Apprentice Jockeys’ School, said many young people lack a target in life. Athletes like Yip differ from her peers because she has a goal, and can see herself improve and advance towards it through sports training. “This is the kind of training young people need most,” Chan said.
Yip, who will turn 24 in August, did not begin formal training until the age of 12. Being the rebellious type, she did not have a smooth start at the Hong Kong Sports Institute. Initially, she did not pay attention to her coach, or follow instructions. After a few setbacks losing to younger opponents, she realised she would need to focus on her goal and train harder to make up the lost time.
These days she is committed to training from early in the morning until late at night, to improve herself within the shortest time.
For Yip, beating fellow teammate Zhou Mi in the women’s singles final at the 2009 East Asian Games in Hong Kong was an unforgettable moment. She will always remember the home crowd’s cheers and encouragement.
She said people paid more attention to local athletes during the Games and gained better understanding of different sport events. This opens up more options for children who choose to take up sports.
Chan is a keen supporter of the Asian Games bid. She vividly recalled the day Hong Kong lost the 2006 Asian Games bid to Doha. “I was like, Doha? Where is it? But the city has advanced so much after the Games and now they are going to host the 2022 World Cup.”
Chan said there is no harm in giving the bid a go.
“There is no guarantee to win in a game but you will never win if you don’t take part. For 2023, we are talking about 12 years later. We need to enter the game instead of just talking.”
