SOLER SOLER - Sports Federation & Olympic Committee of Hong ...

Message
TIMOTHY T. T. FOK
MEMBER
INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE
XLIX Festival of Sport
We mark each passage of spring with the Festival of Sport. But this year the fest has an
extra edge as Hong Kong gears up its sporting spirit leading up to the 2008 Olympics,
whose equestrian events will be staged locally. What is more is that we are reaching a
critical phase in sports development as the community assesses the needs for facilities and
focuses on a sports hub in East Kowloon, in what was the Kai Tak airport.
The sports fraternity must more than ever demonstrate its zeal to convince everyone that it
merits having the venues to go with its spirit. The fest 2006 will be a showcase for our
sports clubs and associations to demonstrate their prowess of organization, their unity and
their focus. Only then will we send an unequivocal message that we aim to involve the
whole city, at every level, in sports and so foster a greater sporting culture.
An opportunity like this comes once in a lifetime as the events converge to highlight the
value of sports - from the aforementioned Olympics, the 2009 East Asian Games in Hong
Kong, a series of major tournaments and spectacles to go with the government's own major
planning and development review. We have no doubt in our commitment and the time has
come to evince it for all to see.
Timothy Fok, G.B.S., J.P.
President
Sports Federation & Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, China
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