The National Games celebrated a milestone on Sunday (Nov 2) as its first cross-boundary torch relay was held simultaneously in Hong Kong, Macau and Guangdong, with one week before the Games open.
Following the launch ceremony in Shenzhen, the torch relay started in Hong Kong, Macau, Guangzhou and Shenzhen - four key cities of the Greater Bay Area.
At around 9.30am, Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Rosanna Law Shuk-pui ignited the flame cauldron while local table tennis ace Wong Chun-ting start the relay as the first torchbearer for the Hong Kong route.
The route winds from the Central Government Offices, passing through the Central and Western District Promenade, the Wan Chai Temporary Promenade, and the Golden Bauhinia Square, the Star Ferry Bus Terminus in Tsim Sha Tsui and Salisbury Road after crossing Victoria Harbour by ferry, before arriving at the Central Square of the Kai Tak Sports Park.
Other sports stars, business leaders, and community figures rounded out the 50 torchbearers lineup, including Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) chairman Martin Liao Cheung-kong and chief executive officer Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges, chairperson and managing director of Henderson Land Development Martin Lee Ka-shing, executive director of Sun Hung Kai Properties Adam Kwok Kai-fai, Sino Group’s chairman Daryl Ng Win-kong, New World Development’s executive director Sonia Cheng Chi-Man and the head coach of Hong Kong's table tennis team Li Ching.
Fencer Kaylin Hsieh, the last torchbearer for the Hong Kong route, lit the cauldron at around 11am.
A total of 200 torchbearers from all walks of life carry the flame in the four cities, including physicist Xue Qikun and former Olympic diving champion Yang Jinghui.
The "source flame" was extracted and ignited from combustible ice lying more than 1,500 meters beneath the surface of the South China Sea in September.
Following the relay, the torch flames from the four cities will converge in Guangzhou later today at Guangdong Olympic Sports Center to be merged into a single flame, which will light the main cauldron at the opening ceremony of the 15th National Games on November 9.
