UM Dragon Boat Team Gelling up and Winning Gold

The dragon boat teams from the University of Macao competed at the Macao International Dragon Boat Races 2020 and won with flying colors as the two UM teams took home a gold and a bronze at the small dragon boat 200-metre race.“Because of the epidemic, we trained less than before and our full-team training was as short as one month. Many of the team members are graduating this year and they hope to give the best performance in the races. Every single member on the team is going for the championship. The University of Macao has been crowned champion in the university student category for four consecutive years. This winning tradition is what we want to pass down and carry out. Now that the races are over, we are going back to the training right away to gel the team together. This team cohesiveness is the underpinning of the sport and is what makes me love it so much.” said Li Hong Chao, the UM teams' assistant.

Marine and Water Bureau Crowning PE SMB 200m Champion

The public entities small dragon boat races that have almost been monopolized by the public security police force (FSM) teams over the past years saw a change this year as the team from the Marine and Water Bureau jumped in the vacuum left by the absence of FSM teams and took the first place at the grand final of the PE small dragon boat 200-metre race.“We always had a keen passion for the dragon boat races. By taking part in the races, we pulled together all departments within the Bureau. With training and contests, we gravitated our colleagues towards shared goals. We are glad that we won, but winning is never the thing that we value most,”said Wong Soi Man, Director of the Marine and Water Bureau, who took part in the races herself.