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Mrs Regina Ip Suggested Hong Kong to Team Up with GBA Cities for The First B&R Games
2024-08-09
Mrs Regina Ip, Convenor of the Executive Council, LegCo Member and Co-Chair of the Maritime Silk Road Society delivered the keynote speech at the South China Morning Post’s Redefining Hong Kong Series 2024 conference on 9 August.
During her presentation, Mrs Ip said that Hong Kong should work in conjunction with other cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area to host the first ‘Belt and Road Games’. She suggested that riding on its stunning achievements in the Paris Olympics, Hong Kong should take the lead in using mega events in sports to build friendship, strengthen connectivity, spur innovation and stimulate growth.
Speaking to the Post after the conference, Mrs Ip said Hong Kong would have to team up with other GBA cities to leverage existing and coming sporting facilities such as Kai Tak Sports Park. The Kai Tak project is expected to inaugurate next year thus providing a main stadium that holds 50,000 spectators, an indoor sports centre with 10,000 seats and a public sports ground with 5,000 seats. While in Guangzhou, the Guangdong Olympic Stadium which has a seating capacity for more than 80,000 people is now under renovation for the 15th National Games in 2025. In addition, the Shenzhen Universiade Sports Centre, which hosted the 2011 edition of the FISU World University Games, has a capacity of more than 60,000.
With the numerous available sports infrastructure and those in the pipeline, Mrs Ip was confident that hosting an event like the ‘Belt and Road Games’ would help create a new sports industry in Hong Kong.
