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Significant sporting progress has been made by Hong Kong athletes at recent competitions including the just concluded 2^nd Asian Indoor Games where they won 15 gold, 9 silver and 11 bronze medals, ranking third in the medals tally. Behind the scene, the HKSAR Government and the Hong Kong Sports Institute (HKSI) has set up various schemes to encourage and recognise their outstanding performance. Among the schemes, the "HKSI Scholarship Athletes Special Incentive Fund" (the Fund) has recently released the third payment batch of HK$694,600 to 97 athletes of 19 sports who returned with excellent results during the period January to June 2007, accumulating the total payout of almost HK$3 million since 2006.

Among the 97 recipients of the third batch, athletes from Badminton, Bodybuilding, Cycling, Fencing, Squash, Swimming, Table Tennis, Tennis, Tenpin Bowling, Triathlon, Windsurfing and Wushu received a sum of HK$344,600 while athletes from the Hong Kong Paralympic Committee and Sports Association for the Physically Disabled (HKPC&SAPD) and the Hong Kong Sports Association for the Mentally Handicapped (HKSAM) received HK$350,000 in total.

Badminton player Wang Chen who captured a gold medal in women's singles at the Djarum Indonesia Super Series 2007, bodybuilder Lam Man-shing who captured a bronze medal in the men's 90kg & below at the Doha Asian Games, cyclist Wong Kam-po who won the champion of men's scratch race at the UCI Track Cycling World Championships, cyclist Steven Wong who clinched a gold medal at the 2^nd Asian BMX Championships, squash player Chiu Wing-yin who ranked second in the women's singles at the Texas Open 2007, table tennis players Li Ching and Ko Lai-chak who captured a bronze medal in the men's doubles at the Liebherr 2007 World Table Tennis Championships, triathlete Lee Chi-wo who ranked first in the elite men's category at the 2007 Yicheng Hu Bei ITU Asian Continental Cup Triathlon, as well as disabled athlete So Wa-wai and wheelchair fencer Yu Chui-yee are among the recipients list.

The Fund, administered by the HKSI with financial support from the Government's Facility and Programme Donations Scheme and the Grantham Scholarships Fund, was launched last year with an aim to provide cash incentives to athletes who win medals at various levels of international competitions and attain the qualification for the 2008 Olympic Games.

Athletes under the HKSI's Sports Scholarship Scheme will be benefited from the Fund. It covers more than 700 athletes from HKSI's elite sports and Individual Athletes Support Scheme, as well as the athletes from the HKPC&SAPD and the HKSAM. Cash incentives will be disbursed to recipients according to results achieved at international competitions, ranging from invitational events to world championships and Major Games. It provides the athletes a total funding support of HK$9 million from 2006 to 2009.

Other than the 2006 Asian Games and the Far East & South Pacific Games for the Disabled as well as the just concluded 2007 Asian Indoor Games, it is also hoped that the Fund can help local athletes better prepare for the coming Major Games including 2008 Beijing Olympics and Paralympics, 2009 National Games and 2009 East Asian Games in Hong Kong.