Local athletes are hoping that Hong Kong can build on its unprecedented success at the just-concluded Asian Games.

The SAR clinched a record-breaking 53 medals in the Games, having sent 660 athletes to compete in 40 events.

Sean Moore, managing director of Elite Sport Asia, says people are increasingly waking up to the idea that sports is a viable career path, but he told RTHK’s Hong Kong Today programme he's still hoping to see more support for amateur–level sports.

“One of the most impressive factors of the games for me is the community-wide awareness of our athletes and how they’re performing,” he said.

“We’re doing quite well at the elite level, I think we need to do a bit more work at the grassroots level – you have to have a high intake to have a good output,” he added.

Moore said success at elite-level competitions such as the Asian Games is a great platform to show the general public that sports is much more than mere games, but they are about developing resilience, perseverance, and achieving common goals.

Tangible rewards for successful athletes, he added, is another incentive to get more people involved in sports at all levels.

“What of our elite athletes who perform [well]? Where is their reward? Not from government but from society – from commercial contracts, from endorsements. These are all very important things to get people to look at sport as a viable career, and not as a sideline,” he said.