Macau, China, 1 Jul – Macau will be represented by a delegation of 60 athletes playing six different sports in the second edition of the Lusophone Games, which takes place in Lisbon between 11 and 19 July, 2009.
José Tavares, vice-president of the Macau Sport Development Board, told Portugal’s Lusa News Agency that Macau will have six athletes taking part in athletics, 11 in basketball, five in judo, eight in table tennis, seven in taekwando and 23 in volleyball.
Macau’s athletes, who are setting off for Lisbon on 8 July, are aiming to obtain at least 14 medals at the games, which would replicate its performance at the first edition of the Lusophone Games, which took place in Macau in 2006.
“We are going to work to achieve the same results, however, there are factors that can affect our objective, such as the time difference between Macau and Portugal,” he said.
Tavares also said it is not taking part in football or five-a-side football, “because we believe that based on the results of the last games, in which our national teams took part, we decided it was better not to participate.”
In 2006, Macau’s athletes won five bronze medals in athletics, five bronze medals in table tennis, a bronze medal and a silver medal in taekwondo and a silver medal in volleyball. Macau ended up in fifth place overall, based on the medal rankings, which was headed by Portugal and Brazil, which won 30 each.
The following countries will be taking part in the second edition of the Lusophone Games, organised by Association of Portuguese-speaking Olympic Committees: Macau, Portugal, Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, São Tomé, Cape Verde and Guinea Bissau.
The participation of East Timor has not yet been confirmed, due to financial reasons.
(MacauNews)
