Following are the remarks by the Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism, Miss Rosanna Law, at a media session after chairing the Sports Commission meeting this afternoon (March 24):
Reporter: First of all, can you just recap in English like other any specific performance indicators or factors that justify the decision to keep Tier A funding for snooker and tennis? How will the Sports Commission ensure that this decision does not unfairly disadvantage other sports, like other types of sports, that are also seeking funding? Is this one of the decisions? You mentioned that the Sports Commission will review the EVSS (Elite Vote Support Scheme) for greater flexibility in recognising sports with unique strengths or growing popularity? Is there a timetable to complete the review and are there any sports that you have in mind that might fit in the new requirements? Thank you.
Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism: The review of the EVSS has just been done. That is what the Sports Commission has just discussed and that was the outcome of the review of the EVSS. The outcome is that tennis and billiard sports will continue to stay at Tier A elite sports in the coming two years. The reasons being are that we have reviewed the criteria, the one in particular being adjusted, in the past we required that for a sport to stay at elite (sports) (Tier) A, first of all, it has to be a sport that is included in the Olympic (Games) or the Asian Games in the four past events or upcoming two events. In these six events, at least three would include this sport. So, this would pose difficulty for billiard sports, for example. But recognising this difficulty which is not within the control of the sports association itself, we have decided to adjust the scheme a little bit, so that we will count from 1997, the year that we started to compete in the name of Hong Kong, China. From then till now, at least three times a sport will have to be included in either the Olympic (Games) or the Asian Games. If that is the case, they would be qualified to stay in Tier A elite sports. Billiard sports will meet the criteria upon this adjustment.
For tennis, we would advise that on top of the Olympic (Games) or Asian Games, normally for other sports, World Championship is also an important event that would be counted or considered for whether a sport can be included or stayed within the elite zone. But for tennis, they don't have a world champion tournament as such. So, we have decided to take into account outcome in Grand Slam events, and also the Davis Cup or Billie Jean King Cup outcome. It is an adjustment that is fitting for tennis in which we are also making good performances recently. Of course, this is a system that is ever-evolving in light of the latest development of the sports sector. We will continue to see if adjustment is necessary in the future times to come. Thank you.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the remarks.)
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