The city is one of 11 potential candidates to host the world's largest sporting and cultural event specifically for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) athletes. 

Other cities to have expressed an interest in hosting the Games include Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington D.C., Tel Aviv and Cape Town.

The Gay Games were first held in San Francisco in 1982 but have never been held in Asia. 

Founded by Hong Kong businessman and philanthropist Patrick Sun, the Sunpride Foundation aims to foster a stronger, healthier and fairer world for LGBT people.

"We are deeply grateful for Sunpride's support," Gareth Morgan, the communications director of Hong Kong 2022, said. 

"It will fund the second tranche of registration fees due to the Federation of Gay Games. 

"This kind and generous donation represents a true vote of confidence in our bid to bring the Gay Games to Asia for the very first time."

Other cities bidding are Austin, Dallas, Denver and Salt Lake City in the United States and Guadalajara in Mexico. 

The cities are due to submit their first Bid Books to the Federation of Gay Games (FGG) by November 30. 

"This is a competitive and lengthy process, and we are grateful for all of the organisations’ hard work," said David Killian, officer of site selection for the FGG.

"The impact that the Gay Games has in host cities is incredible in terms of culture, sport, economic impact, history and most importantly furthering all matters of LGBT equality."

The 2014 Games were hosted in Cleveland in Ohio and featured 10,000 athletes from 60 countries and 37 sports.

The next Gay Games are scheduled to take place in Paris in 2018. 

The FGG is due to select the host city for 2022 at a meeting in October 2017.