Macao Swimming Team Reopening Local Games for Training Evaluation
In strict alignment with epidemic control protocol, the Macao swimming team resumed the trainings of team A, team B and team C starting from June. As the National Student Sports Games gets pushed back and FINA competitions remain unlikely to reopen any sooner, the team members mainly engage in aerobic training and speed and stamina build-up, hoping to stay at their best in the competition-free window. The Swimming Association of Macau, China plans to bring back local age group competitions and opens in September and November where swimmers get to assess their own training.
In line with the evolution of the epidemic, the Macau Sports Bureau started to bring swimmers who were to attend competitions back on training in March, but only allowed some of the swimmers who are on the Training Subsidy Program for Elite Athletes including Chao Man Hou, Lin Sizhuang and Cheang Weng Lam back to in-water training where the risk of contact transmission is high. Only until June did the training restart entirely. When asked about the training during the epidemic, U Sio Fan, director of the Swimming Department of the Association said“The Association has arranged dryland workouts for shelter-in-place swimmers since February when their in-water training stopped. Swimmers were asked to report when and how they trained to their coaches. When they returned to regular training, judging from the performance and stamina of the swimmers, we know that they didn't cut themselves loose in the epidemic. The attendance at training sessions is ideal.”
The swimming team has to postpone or cancel their trips to the National Student Sports Games at Qingdao as well as to the FINA World Championships, Malaysia Open Swimming Championships and Hong Kong Open Swimming Championships. As the epidemic stabilizes in Macao, the city's swimming association plans to reopen its age group swimming competitions and open championships in September and November. U said“These two events are still in the pipeline, and we're expecting to see a cut on some sports events and the cancelation of team awards. Hopefully, these local competitions will help swimmers get back to their competition mode and help the association assess the training effect.”
The Macao sports team plans to attend the National Games, World Universiade, the Asian Indoor & Martial Arts Games, the Asian Youth Games, among other large-scale comprehensive games. The Macao swimming team will not only focus on improving the performance of the first-echelon swimmers for all these large competitions, but also seek to help rising stars including Li XuBin, Kuan I Cheng, Ieong Sao Wai and Cheang Weng Chi for the comprehensive development of the city's swimming sport.
