The six gaming concessionaires must give a presentation next month about how they plan to host or support sports events for this year, the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Elsie Ao Ieong said at the Legislative Assembly (AL) yesterday.
Ao Ieong was at the AL to participate in a Q&A session with the lawmakers on several matters.
The Secretary was replying to an inquiry from lawmaker Leong Sun Iok regarding the development and improvement of the Macau International Marathon event as well as other long-distance running events, but the discussion soon turned to the promotion of “tourism+sport.”
Ao Ieong said that although the pandemic has caused some delays to the government’s plan to develop the sector over the past three years, over this period Macau continued to host several large-scale sports competitions. She added that present conditions will allow a quicker development of this policy.
The gaming concessionaires are part of this initiative and so the government will receive their proposals up until March, and then liaise with them and other organizations to coordinate the events.
Macau started 2023 by hosting the Macao International Regatta, sponsored by MGM, and its second edition took place last month.
On Wednesday, the Sports Bureau and Sands China also unveiled the hosting of the 2023 Sands China Macao International 10K run, which will be held on March 19.
Other annual events such as the Macau Grand Prix (in November) and the Macao International Marathon (in December) have also been confirmed, the latter under the title sponsorship of Galaxy Entertainment.
The possibility of the return of the 3×3 Basketball Tournament (in the past sponsored by Wynn) has also already been considered, as well as another event of the World Table Tennis (WTT) Champions Macao (in the past also sponsored by Galaxy Entertainment).
When Ho Iat Seng first presented “Tourism+Sport” in the first policy address of his government, he said that there would be at least one sports event per month, and that this initiative that would be supported by the gaming concessionaires, who would sponsor two events each per year.
In relation to the development of the marathon event, Ao Ieong said that the organizers will study the possibility of expanding the number of participants and the choice of other roads for the marathon, “according to the possibilities and capabilities of the roads,” she said, noting the need to pay attention to road safety as well as traffic concerns.
Still, the Secretary hinted that the local marathon can use the so-called Cotai Strip (Estrada do Istmo) in the future, as proposed by Leong.
Regarding the proposal to increase the capacity and number of events, Ao Ieong said that it is a more complex matter, saying that it’s not easy to host several marathon events in one year but it “might be possible to host the 10K run twice.”
Other lawmakers like Ma Chi Seng also proposed a “mega-event” that would link Macau, Hong Kong, and Zhuhai with the hosting of a marathon event in the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge (HKZMB).
In response, Ao Ieong said that it is unlikely that such a “mega-event” could be held, since it would require very complex negotiations between the three regions and the setup of a closed-circuit area in the bridge.
The fact that the overall length of the HKZMB is about 55 kilometers, while the marathon distance is 42.195 km, appears to have been overlooked.
In a rare move, the president of the AL, Kou Hoi In, took the opportunity of the debate to intervene: not to put a question, but rather to call on the government to improve the coordination and efficient organization of such events in general, including sports events.
Gov’t cannot reveal which events Macau will host of National Games
The government cannot yet reveal which events from the 2025 National Games (which will be co-hosted by Macau, Hong Kong, and Guangdong province) are to be hosted in Macau, the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Elsie Ao Ieong said in a response to lawmaker Ron Lam.
Lawmaker Lam wanted to know which sports events will be hosted in Macau, calling on the government to make the announcement in order to allow advance preparations to begin.
“We need to follow the instructions of the national authority,” she said, adding, “what I can advance is that we proposed to host sports in which we are competitive and in which we have experience organizing, such as table tennis.”
Ao Ieong also hinted that Macau might be hosting a competition in electronic sports (e-sports).
“It is possible as there will be this type of
games in the National Games,” she said, adding that certain the participation of local gamers from this competition. “They will join through a different association [General Association of Athletics of Macau] as there isn’t a formal e-sports athletes’ association in Macau.”
