Speaking at the ceremony, Mrs Carrie Lam JP, Permanent Secretary for Home Affairs, said, "I believe every youngster has great potential in multiple aspects. We should give them more support and encouragement to help them develop their talents. In fact, most of the elite athletes in Hong Kong were spotted by their school teachers while they were still at school levels. To instill sporting culture among school students will help our young generation to develop a life long habit in doing exercises and enjoy a healthy life."

The AS Watson Group Hong Kong Student Sports Awards (SSA) is the first of its kind in Hong Kong open to all local primary, secondary and special schools. Instead of just awarding the best of the best from all schools, the SSA is extended to award one sports talent from each school every year. The Award is launched this school year and marks the beginning of a corporate drive to help build an active sporting culture leading to the forthcoming 2008 Beijing Olympics as well as the 2009 East Asian Games to be hosted by Hong Kong.

Mr Martin So, Group Finance Director of AS Watson Group, is excited to meet with these talented youngsters. "We are pleased to receive overwhelming response in the first year of this Award which reflects the enthusiasm of schools to promote a sporting culture in school. In most cases, these student athletes do not only demonstrate talents in sport, according to their school principals, they are usually also good leaders, have positive attitude, and willing to serve. Through the Award, we hope to encourage them to pursue their dream in sport and nurture an active and healthy generation for Hong Kong."

Among the 616 award winners, 304(49%) are from primary, 284(46%) from secondary and 28(5%) from special schools. In the primary section, over two hundred winners are from primary six and the youngest one is an eight years old primary three student. In the secondary section, most of the awards go to students in senior forms (F4 �V F7). Some of them are already Hong Kong team members representing the SAR in international competitions. The 28 special school student winners are outstanding players in various sports including track and field and swimming.

Over half of the award winners participate in track and field (53%) and other major sports played among the 600 student winners are swimming (15%), table-tennis (14%), basketball (13%), soccer (10%) and volleyball (7%). Another 26% has outstanding performance in other sports like wushu, sumo, bocce, roller skating, golf, hockey, squash and duathlon, etc.

To support the youngsters, the organiser has also arranged a video appearance of Hong Kong Windsurfing Olympic Champion Lee Lai Shan, together with the presence of Hung Chung Yam, Hong Kong Olympic Cyclist; Ho Ka Lai, Asian Games Fencing Bronze Medallist; Amy Chan, Commonwealth Games Badminton Gold Medallist; Yau Kin Wai, famous Hong Kong soccer player; Fung Ying Ki, Paralympics Wheelchair Fencing Gold Medallist; and Lai Ka Yau, World University Games Hong Kong Table Tennis player.

The AS Watson Group Hong Kong Student Sports Awards is supported by Education & Manpower Bureau, Home Affairs Bureau, Social Welfare Department, Association of Principals of Government Secondary Schools, Hong Kong Association of Heads of Secondary Schools, Hong Kong Subsidised Secondary Schools Council, Union of Heads of Aided Primary Schools of Hong Kong, Union of Government Primary School Headmasters & Headmistresses, Subsidised Primary Schools Council, Hong Kong Special Schools Council, The Hong Kong Schools Sports Federation, and The Outstanding Young Persons Association.