Taipa and Coloane Community Service Consultative Council deputy convener Choi Seng Hon quoted Sports Bureau (ID) officials yesterday as saying that the bureau was slated to recruit about 10,000 volunteers who were born in 2007 or before for the 15th National Games, including mainland and overseas students studying in Macau, as well as local students studying in the mainland, adding that no deadline will be set for the recruitment.
The 15th National Games, which will be jointly hosted by Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau, will take place in 2025 under two categories – competitions featuring Olympic Games for professionals and mass sports events for non-professionals, Choi said, adding that no more than a total of 10 events in both categories will be held in Macau. The specific types of competitions will be introduced after the local organising committee has finalised details with its counterparts in Hong Kong and the mainland, according to Choi.
The committee will be headed by Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Elsie Ao Ieong U, with Sports Bureau President Pun Weng Kun as secretary general and the two vice presidents of the bureau as deputy secretary generals.
Choi made the remarks during a press briefing after the council’s regular closed-door meeting with ID officials yesterday about the preparations for the upcoming National Games at the Community Integrated Building in Coloane’s Seac Pai Van public housing estate.
According to ID officials, Choi said, volunteers will be divided into two groups, namely competition helpers and city promoters, adding that the former group will be tasked with guiding athletes and assisting with the competition’s arrangements, while the latter will be in charge of promoting Macau’s “tourism culture” and events in local neighbourhoods, at various local checkpoints and landmarks.
Leong Chon Kit, a member of the government-appointed council, pointed out during the press briefing that both online and offline training courses covering languages such as Putonghua, knowledge of sport and local culture, as well as the history of the National Games and Macau will be provided for volunteers.
Meanwhile, Choi also quoted the officials as saying that no new stadia will be built for the National Games in Macau, but maintenance will be carried out on the existing sports venues where corresponding special facilities will be set up for certain competitions if necessary.
Choi Seng Hon (left), deputy convener of the Taipa and Coloane Community Service Consultative Council, and Leong Chon Kit, a member of the government-appointed council, look on during a press briefing after yesterday’s regular closed-door meeting at the Seac Pai Van Community Integrated Building in Coloane.
– Photo: Yuki Lei
