Carrie Lam confirmed that the national team Tokyo Olympic athlete Su Bingtian and others are scheduled to visit Hong Kong in December

Source: Global Times

The Chinese national team won 88 medals at this year's Tokyo Olympic Games, including 38 gold, 32 silver and 18 bronze. The visit of the gold medal athletes to Hong Kong was finally clear on the 23rd.

He visited Hong Kong for three days in early December

According to Hong Kong's "Sing Tao Daily" reported on the 23rd, the SAR government has recently been intensively arranging for national gold medal athletes to visit Hong Kong. Under the epidemic situation, arranging accommodation, meals and attending public occasions are more complicated, and the Hong Kong Association and The Olympic Committee have been sending special personnel to follow up. The gold medalists are tentatively scheduled to arrive in Hong Kong on 3 December for a three-day visit. Among them, on the day of arrival, the main trip to the Concierge's House and the banquet attending the exhibition, the next day's key itinerary includes performances at the Yiguan Pavilion and the Victoria Garden Swimming Pool, and the itinerary next Sunday is temporarily uncertain.

Carrie Lam confirmed that tokyo olympic athlete Su Bingtian and others are scheduled to visit Hong Kong in December. Image source: Visual China

Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor confirmed on the 23rd that the gold medal athletes of the Tokyo Olympic Games of the national team will visit Hong Kong from December 3 to 5, with about 30 people from 12 major sports, including "100-meter flyer" Su Bingtian and table tennis player Ma Long. She said that after the return to the motherland, after each Olympic Games, there will be gold medalists visiting Hong Kong, and this time the national team and the Hong Kong team have good results, and I believe that athletes' visits to Hong Kong will cause a strong reaction from everyone. However, due to the epidemic situation, compared with the past few times, there may not be so many opportunities for close contact, "the government is striving for a number of public activities, including sports demonstrations, comprehensive performances, etc., as soon as there is a detail will be announced as soon as possible."

The LCSD announced on the 23rd that about 5,300 tickets for the national team's famous sports demonstration and grand parade will be sold on the public from 10:00 a.m. on the 26th to purchase tickets online, mobile applications or credit card telephones. On the morning of 4 December, the delegation will attend the "Olympic Athletes Showcase" sports demonstration, demonstrating badminton, fencing, gymnastics and table tennis at the Queen Elizabeth Stadium, as well as diving and swimming at the Victoria Park Swimming Pool, and the "Olympic Athletes Parade" variety show at the Queen Elizabeth Stadium in the afternoon, with the list of athletes to be announced later. At the same time, the conference arranged television broadcast activities.

Sources said that even if national athletes can be arranged to come to Hong Kong in December, they will be carried out in a "bubble" mode as much as possible. The source said that since the Tokyo Olympics are held this year, "if it is not interesting after this year", it is always hoped that they can be arranged to come to Hong Kong at the end of the year to make a successful conclusion.

Champions visiting Hong Kong has been a practice for many years

The visit of mainland Olympians to Hong Kong began as early as after the 1988 Seoul Olympics. In 2000, the first Olympic Games after Hong Kong's return to the motherland, some Sydney Olympic gold medalists such as Liu Xuan, Kong Linghui and Wang Nan launched a three-day event in Hong Kong. After the 2004 Athens Olympics, it became customary for Olympic gold medalists to visit Hong Kong. At that time, Hong Kong had not yet fully recovered from the SARS epidemic, and the visit of these Olympians undoubtedly brought a vitality to Hong Kong, which was in a slump in the market at that time and the retail industry was depressed, and the efforts of each athlete for the gold medal also gave Great encouragement to the Hong Kong people in the trough.

All walks of life in Hong Kong are looking forward to it. Pei Junqi, vice president of the Hong Kong Association and Olympic Committee, said that he hoped that the national team and the Hong Kong team could communicate with each other, encourage each other, and promote the social and sports atmosphere. Hong Kong table tennis player Du Kaixuan said that he admired Ma Long, first, it was difficult for him to successfully defend his title at the Olympic Games, and second, the other party's story was very inspiring, hoping to compete with Ma Long. At the same time, she is looking forward to meeting with other players of the national team, including Su Bingtian in athletics and Quan Hongchan who dived, and will "punch in" for a group photo. Cai Junyan, a member of the Hong Kong men's Foil team, said that if the national team visits Hong Kong, he hopes to have more practical opportunities with the other side and make the playing style more diversified to adapt to different opponents.

The Mainland Prevention and Control Corps identified the last link

The analysis believes that the mainland epidemic prevention and control expert group recently arrived in Hong Kong for inspection, and the attitude towards Hong Kong's epidemic prevention and control work and measures will be the last link in determining whether the national gold medal athletes can come to Hong Kong as scheduled. On the 23rd, the Mainland expert delegation conducted the last day's visit to Hong Kong, and they divided into two groups, first visiting a community pharmacy in Taikoo Place and a medical centre in Xinghua Estate in the morning, and then transferring to Xiaoxiwan Hanwha Secondary School and Chai Wan Indoor Sports Field to investigate the use of the "Travel with Peace" app. Sources said that if mainland experts feel that Hong Kong has the conditions for customs clearance after assessment, there is a greater chance that national athletes will be given a green light when they come to Hong Kong.

Carrie Lam revealed on the 23rd that she has received a notice from the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office that Hong Kong and the mainland will hold a second meeting on customs clearance in Shenzhen on Thursday to further discuss the details of the resumption of customs clearance between the two places. However, until the evening of the 22nd, the first vaccination rate in Hong Kong has not reached 70%, and she called on the unvaccinated people to fulfill their civic responsibilities, and hoped that as the age of Vaccination at Cotexen declines, the vaccination rate of students can be increased and conditions will be created for the early resumption of full-day classes and extracurricular activities.

"Customs clearance is only one foot away from the door", Sing Tao Daily commented on the 23rd that the epidemic situation in Europe has worsened, austria has once again locked down the city, and more compulsory vaccinations will be imposed at the beginning of next year, Germany also said that compulsory vaccination will be unavoidable, indirectly acknowledging the failure of the coexistence policy with the virus, "Europe has become a negative teaching material for epidemic control, and Hong Kong must learn from it." The article said that the mainland expert group's inspection in Hong Kong is an opportunity to promote Hong Kong's improvement of epidemic prevention measures, which means that the customs clearance date is getting closer and closer, and the Hong Kong government must be more watertight in terms of external defense import and internal defense rebound, and effectively plug all potential loopholes.