To reward Macao athletes for achieving outstanding results in various large-scale sports contests in 2017, the SAR Government hosted“Ceremony for the Distribution of Prizes and Certificates to Athletes and Coaches of Merit in Sports 2017”on 12th January at the Exhibition Centre of Macau Fisherman's Wharf, awarding 58 athletes and 22 coaches, youth training coaches and technical support staff members with prize money which amounts to over 7,800,000 Patacas and awarding certificates for 17 sports events. Pun Weng Kun, president of the Sports Bureau, in his speech, congratulated all the athletes who have achieved brilliant results in international competitions and their coaches who supported them wholeheartedly, emphasizing that the Sports Bureau will continue to support sports associations to build up perfect echelons, cultivate more excellent athletes and develop competitive sports.
In 2017, the Wushu representative team obtained excellent results in many competitions, including the World Wushu Championships, the Asian Youth Wushu Championships and the Universiade. A total of 3,400,000 Patacas was awarded. They won two gold medals in the women's long fist event and the women's all-round sword and spear event, making an unprecedented breakthrough for Macao in this sport. Li Yi, who won 2 bronzes in the World Championships, stated that the year 2017 had extraordinary significance for her. Not only had she achieved brilliant results, but her performance in the field was also more perfect than how she had performed during training. In 2018, she will attempt to give her best in the Asian Games, striving to update the individual best results and aiming to win a gold medal.
Tam Ka Pan and Wong Weng Lam, a dance sports pair, together also turned a new page for Macao. They won a bronze medal in the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games. They step on the awarding podium of a large-scale comprehensive sports event for the first time. Wong Weng Lam states,“Winning in the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games has great significance, but only ranking third is not enough to reach my own goal. I hope that I could achieve more honor for Macao”.
