This year, the World Challenge Day was held on May, 25. In response to this and at the invitation of the Association for International Sport for All (TAFISA). Macao celebrated this occasion by holding the “2011 World Challenge Day”. The event was organized by Macao Sport Development Board and the Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau, in association with the Health Bureau, as an effort to arouse the public’s enthusiasm for physical exercises and to encourage them to cultivate the habit to exercise every day. Various Macao SAR governmental departments, schools, enterprises, social organizations and residents participated in this year’s event by conducting physical exercise for 15 minutes.
As an international event organized by TAFISA, the World Challenge Day utilizes the city as a participating unit. The purpose of this activity is to heighten the awareness of residents of all ages about physical health in the pursuit of an energetic lifestyle. This year was the 11th time that Macao participated in this event.
The event is categorized according to the population size, whilst drawing lots is used by TAFISA to determine the competitors of participating cities. This year, Macao competed against Irapuato, Mexico.
To encourage the active participation of residents and strengthen the promotion of the event, the organizers assigned staff and helpers wearing the promotional “5.25” World Challenge Day T-shirt at various public recreational and excise hotspots including the Guia Hill, Leal Senado Square and Iao Hon Park etc to prompt and to lead residents to participate in physical exercises. In addition, the affiliated venues of the Macao Sport Development Board opened for free public use during the designated individual booking hours and the four affiliated swimming pools of the Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau also opened to residents for free to conduct sports exercise. Moreover, group and recreational activities held at Iao Hon Park Square and Leal Senado Square respectively in the morning and afternoon.
According to competition rules set by the TAFISA, the competing city with the higher percentage of the population to have consistently conducted any kind of physical exercise for 15 minutes on the day of the event will be the winner (of the pair). This year, although only achieved 2nd place in our group match, Macao recorded a total of 246,000 - 44.63% of Macao’s population participated in the event, the highest number of participants recorded in 10 years.
