​The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) had 350 members of the disciplined services participating in the 2023 World Police and Fire Games (WPFG) in Canada, winning a total of 275 medals. The Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Chan Kwok-ki, this afternoon (August 8) attended a welcome ceremony organised by the HKSAR Government at Hong Kong International Airport for the athletes, who returned to Hong Kong today, to congratulate them on their triumphant return.
Officials attending the ceremony also included the Secretary for Security, Mr Tang Ping-keung; the Permanent Secretary for Security, Mr Patrick Li; the Commissioner of Police, Mr Siu Chak-yee; and the Commissioner of Customs and Excise, Ms Louise Ho. Representatives from the Legislative Council Panel on Security, the Young Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Coalition, the Junior Police Call, the "Customs YES" and disciplined services sports clubs, as well as family members of the athletes were also present.
Speaking at the ceremony, Mr Chan commended participating colleagues' excellent performance and said it was encouraging that the team had won a total of 97 gold medals, 90 silver medals and 88 bronze medals. He expressed outrage over various despicable acts by people or organisations with ulterior motives to smear the HKSAR athletes in Canada, and activities called for on the Internet to oppose the entry of the HKSAR police officers into Canada, attempting to politicise and stigmatise the international sports event. He highly recognised the calm, restraint, perseverance and professionalism of the HKSAR disciplined services officers who continued to do their best in the competitions and achieved distinguished results, telling the world the good stories of Hong Kong by actions.
Mr Chan pointed out that the incidents once again showed that the destabilising forces had not given up to stir up chaos and attempted to undermine Hong Kong's international image, prosperity and stability by making slanderous remarks against the Hong Kong disciplined services and wantonly smearing and attacking Hong Kong using various excuses and occasions. He emphasised that the HKSAR Government is committed to its duties and will continue to join various sectors of society to protect the safety of Hong Kong and the country, resolutely adopting the principle of "laws being observed and strictly enforced".
The HKSAR participants come from different disciplined services, including the Hong Kong Police Force, the Hong Kong Customs, the Hong Kong Correctional Services Department and the Hong Kong Fire Services Department. They competed in various sports, including cross country, archery, track and field, badminton, basketball, boxing, cycling, dragon boat, soccer, golf, bodybuilding, judo, rowing, rugby, rifle, swimming, table tennis, tennis, bowling and volleyball.
The latest edition of the WPFG was held in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, from July 28 to August 6. Participating officers from the HKSAR returned to Hong Kong in batches, and 69 Hong Kong Police Force officers and 12 Hong Kong Customs officers returned to Hong Kong today.
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