Hong Kong sports head Timothy Fok called for more financial support from the government and the commercial sectors to pave the way for better performances from Hong Kong athletes at the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008.

The Hong Kong Olympic Committee president said it's time to get down to serious business by offering more support to athletes.

"Athletes are always the center of the games and they cannot do well without the required support," said Fok when he announced the list of recipients of the Manulife Hong Kong Sports Scholarship Program.

"I think the Scholarship Program has set a good example of offering support to athletes and I hope more assistance of a similar kind will follow."

Ten athletes, including Steven Wong, the gold medallist in the men's BMX cycling at the last year's National Games of China, have got a total sum of one million Hong Kong dollars (about 128,000 US dollars) and each of them will receive a subsidy of 100,000 dollars over the next 12 months.