Macao SAR Debut at China's National Games |
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Part of a 129-strong sports delegation from the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR), which was established after its handover to China in December of 1999, arrived in Guangzhou late Thursday night to make a debut at China's National Games.
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Part of a 129-strong sports delegation from the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR), which was established after its handover to China in December of 1999, arrived in Guangzhou late Thursday night to make a debut at China's National Games.
Macao's return to China and the founding of the SAR government was another historic event after the handover of Hong Kong in 1997, both of which marked a stride towards China's reunification, slated for November 11-25 here.
"As we all know, Macao was very weak in competitive sports and almost all the athletes are amateurs. So it's rather difficult for them to compete against the top-flight athletes from the mainland," said Manuel Silverio, Deputy Chief-de-Commission of the delegation and President of Macao SAR's Sport Development Board.
The Macao SAR athletes will compete in the finals of nine events at the 15-day national games here, including shooting, badminton and swimming. Athletes from the SAR also took part in the preliminary rounds of 12 other events but failed to qualify for the finals here.
"However, we are happy to have the chance to attend the national games. In our eyes attending the games may be more important than the result this time. Our aim here is to get more experience as it's the first time for us to be at the games," he said.
Silverio said that as Macao is now part of China and it is a great honor for the SAR athletes to compete in the national games. He promised full support from the SAR government.
The sports official said that all members of the SAR delegation and even the whole society would make good use of this opportunity to learn how to develop sports better in Macao, as all the Chinese provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions are struggling
for honors at the games.
It is the first time for Macao both to attend the national games and host the games' preliminaries. Macao hosted preliminary rounds of field hockey and Wushu which is better known as Kungfu in the west.
Undoubtedly Macao SAR government had invested a lot for hosting the events, with 1 million US dollars for a field hockey up to the international standard. "I think the Wushu and hockey tournaments were successfully held. We have not heard of any criticism about
the events yet," he said.
The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, which made a warmly welcomed debut at the previous national games in Shanghai four years ago, is to participate in the games for a second time.
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