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2000 Sydney Olympic Games women¡¯s gymnastics gold medallist Liu Xuan and 50 primary and secondary students became the first visitors to enjoy the newly launched free guided tour service of the 2009 East Asian Games Gallery on 2/F, Hong Kong Park Sports Centre this morning (July 5).
After touring the gallery, Liu held a sharing session with the students, during which she encouraged them to participate in voluntary work for the 5th East Asian Games (EAG), to be hosted by Hong Kong in 2009.
The free tour guide service is aimed at promoting visitors¡¯interest in the 2009 EAG and to help them appreciate the exhibits better. Starting from today, the service will be available by appointment every Tuesday and Saturday morning to secondary and primary schools and non-profit making organisations respectively. Interested parties may book as earlier as three months in advance. For enquiries or appointments, please call 2601 7656.
The free guided tour service will be extended to walk-in visitors from August. Anyone interested should arrive at the entrance of the 2009 EAG Gallery at 2.30pm, 3.30pm or 4.30pm on any Saturday or Sunday. The capacity of each tour, which will last about 30 minutes, is 20 persons and will be filled on a first-come-first-served basis. Visitors who finish a quiz after the tour will receive a souvenir.
The 2009 East Asian Games Gallery, established by the East Asian Games Planning Committee, was opened to the public in October last year. Apart from permanent displays, a special exhibition of the mascots of past major games is currently being held at the gallery.
The tour guides of the gallery are all tertiary students trained under a special programme launched in June by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) and the Sports Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, China. The tour guide training programme attracted about 500 applicants. The tour guides who served Liu and the visiting students today were from the first batch of 76 who had successfully completed the training.
Ends/Wednesday, July 5, 2006
Issued at HKT 19:52
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