National Games: Hong Kong chief confident events will run smoothly as clock counts down

The venues for the first two National Games events to be staged in Hong Kong will be ready for inspection over the next two weeks, the man tasked with ensuring everything runs smoothly in the city has told the Post.

Hong Kong will host eight events in total, with beach volleyball and handball both beginning well ahead of the official opening ceremony on November 9.

Yeung Tak-keung, head of the National Games Coordination Office, said work was continuing at Victoria Park, where the beach volleyball competition will begin on October 31, and Kai Tak Arena, which is home to men’s handball.

Technical officials, umpires and members of the Chinese Volleyball Association will check the site next weekend, Yeung said, and “if there’s nothing more to work on, then the athletes can practice on the courts”.

Yeung said it would be the same for the 10,000-seat Kai Tak Arena, which staged the final of the Ultimate Tennis Showdown on Wednesday.

The city’s first commissioner for sports added the mainland Chinese athletes were expected to arrive only three or four days before an event started, so there was “no urgency” in finishing the courts.

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