Minister for culture, sports and tourism Rosanna Law on Friday said that a significant funding increase for Hong Kong’s sports sector will be used to improve training for athletes in team-based disciplines, with a comprehensive review of team sports development scheduled to follow this year’s Asian Games. The funding injection was confirmed on Wednesday by Financial Secretary Paul Chan, who revealed that HK$1.2 billion would be added to the sports component of the Arts and Sport Development Fund. At a press conference, Law emphasised that the government is committed to helping teams gain valuable competitive experience as part of their preparation for major events. "This is the Asian Games preparation period, we will encourage teams to go out to join more games, to participate in more games, even if they think they might not necessarily be able to go very far or win a medal," she said. She underlined the importance of competition-based training, particularly for younger athletes and for building team cohesion. "Because training in the form of actual competition, actual involvement in matches is very important, in particular for our younger team members, and also for the team as a whole in terms of their collaboration and cooperation." Law also confirmed that a review of the city’s team sports development programme would take place after the Asian Games, which are set to be held in Nagoya from September 19 to October 4. The programme currently provides additional funding and athlete allowances to national sports associations in eight team sports. "We had a review done in 2024, and there are currently eight team sports that are under our specific sponsorship and support. We will after this year's Asian Games review again the operation of the team sports support scheme starting April 2027," she said. On the feedback from the handball team regarding unmet needs, Law confirmed that discussions are ongoing with the relevant association. "We have been discussing with the NSA (national sports association) on handball on this to make sure that whatever the government provided is to be used suitably and appropriately for the needs of the teams that are competing, especially outside Hong Kong," she said. "We are actually going to increase our support in the area as well. I know that my colleagues have a plan, and when I see that, I will consider that very favourably." The secretary also noted that authorities currently stage about 140 local and international sporting events each year. To build on this, she said the government would raise the funding level for event hosting by 50 percent to encourage local sports associations and organisations to hold more events of varying scale. Edited by Aaron Tam