The Hong Kong Sports Institute (HKSI) and the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine (HKAM) signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Tuesday to promote sports medicine and sports science, in the hope of enhancing better support systems for elite athletes.

HKAM president Gilberto Leung said the Medical Council doesn't recognise sports medicine as a specialisation, so the SAR needs to catch up through developing training programmes in this area.

"The Hong Kong Academy of Medicine has a very good track record and we have rich experience in designing training for specialists, whereas the Hong Kong Sports Institute has a lot of experience with actually dealing with patients or athletes with injuries and how to handle their psychology, their nutritional needs, and also injury prevention," he said.

"We want to put the two together, our statutory status, in providing training for doctors and also the experience that the Sports Institute has, and hopefully with that, we can design some really effective and impactful programmes, and on top of that, we would like to explore how to do research because if you have good research, you can improve service and the care to the athletes as well."

HKSI chairman Tang King-shing said the future cooperation between the two bodies will focus on providing medical training programmes, organising seminars and workshops to better understand sports medicine trends and technology advancements, and strengthening professional exchanges and experience sharing.

Two-time Olympic gold medallist Edgar Cheung and the SAR's "Flying Fish" Siobhan Haughey were among athletes attending the signing event to share the importance of sports medicine for elite athletes.

"I go to [the Sports Medicine Centre at HKSI] for physiotherapy pretty frequently because having fenced for so long, it's no surprise that many athletes have injuries. Even if we don't have injuries, preventative care is important for protecting our bodies, so that we can perform our best at the highest level," Cheung said.

"I see my nutritionist every week and we draw blood to collect my body's data, like white and red blood cell count, iron content and other data. Based on that information, we can see whether my body is healthy and in a normal state," Haughey said.

"If some numbers are not within the normal range or are out of range, my nutritionist will then suggest what I should eat so that I can supplement the missing nutrients."