Delegation prepares departure for Asian Games in Jakarta

At the government headquarters, the Chief Executive met with the delegation which will represent Macau in the 18th Asian Games, before the delegation departs to Jakarta.

The 18th Asian Games will be held in the Indonesian capital between August 18 and September 2.

Football will be the opening sport of the 2018 Asian Games on August 10, ahead of the opening ceremony on August 18.

The MSAR delegation, comprising 110 athletes and 56 officials, medical staff, team leaders, coaches, will take part in 16 competitions: swimming, diving, synchronized swimming, athletics, badminton, bowling, boxing, canoeing, cycling, fencing, judo, karate, squash, table tennis, taekwondo, triathlon, and wushu.

The athletes will leave for Jakarta on August 15 and return to Macau on September 3.

The director of the Sports Bureau (ID), Pun Weng Kun, on the sidelines of the farewell ceremony, said, the “ID gives great support to every single squad.”

When talking about his and  the ID’s expectations for the competition, Pun declared, “I believe that all athletes who are capable enough to have made it to the Asian Games are the elites of Macau. I have confidence in them, and I believe that the athletes will do their utmost in every competition.”

The ID director hopes that Macau residents can also transmit their confidence and support to the athletes in all different sports.

Although the delegation is almost reaching the deadline for departure, a few immigration issues are still unresolved. The director confirmed rumors that some of the athletes are encountering visa problems due to the passports they are using to enter Indonesia. 

“Every single athlete has their own documents to allow them to visit different countries,” Pun explained, adding that the ID “recently [noticed] that the Indonesia Asian Games 2018 Organizing Committee and the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) have the [same] regulation” in regard to athletes’ passports.

However, the local sports authority is still currently discussing this issue with relevant organizations.

“We are making our last hurrah to discuss with the organizing committee and OCA about all kinds of special situations,” said Pun. “[In the past] we [the athletes] have tried to use different passports to participate in this competition. […] The situation is optimistic, but we still have to wait for OCA’s final decision.” JZ