In response to the mobilization call from The Association For International Sport for All (TAFISA) and to encourage the Macao residents to develop a habit of doing 15-minute exercises a day, the Macao Sport Development Board, the Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau and the Health Bureau, stepped into its 13th year to get together and call on all walk of life in Macao to join the 2013 World Challenge Day from 7:00 a.m. until 9:00p.m. on May 29th.
As a global event organized by TAFISA, the World Challenge Day takes each city as a unit, purposely to raise the awareness of residents of all ages about physical health in the pursuit of an energetic lifestyle. According to TAFISA’s drawing results, Macao challenged Jerusalem of Israel as its one-on-one opponent city.
To strengthen the promotion and encourage residents’ active participation in sports, organizers of the event especially arranged performances and recreational activities respectively at the Iao Hon Park Square and the Leal Senado Square, as well as free physical fitness assessment services to the general public at the Leal Senado Square. In addition, the affiliated venues of the Macao Sport Development Board were opened for free public use during periods for individual use and the affiliated swimming pools of the Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau, Hac Sá Park and the recreational facilities located at the Hac Sá Bay Park were also opened to the public for free.
This year’s event again brought up good news as the total number of this year reaching some 261,873 participants, which was the highest among these years and accounting for about 45% of the total population of Macao. It had to give credit to all governmental departments, institutions, businesses, associations, schools and support from all social sectors. Based on the data provided by TAFISA, Jerusalem of Israel had around eighty thousands participants, which was around ten percent out of the total population of Jerusalem, completed the fifteen minutes of exercises on that day. Therefore, Macao declared her victory on this year’s World Challenge Day.
