Up to 250 British sportsmen and women will be based in Macao for training for two to three weeks prior to the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, the British Olympic Association (BOA) said on Friday.
According to the agreement reached between BOA and the Macao authorities, Team GB (Britain's Olympic sports team) will be provided with exclusive usage of world class training facilities in the special administrative region (SAR), many of which were newly constructed for the East Asian Games held here in November 2005.
The Macao SAR government will offer BOA's pre-Beijing Holding Camp with nine sports venues and other relevant supports, such as logistics, said Jose Tavares, acting president of the Macao Sport Development Board.
Britain's search for the best facilities took place between 2003 and 2006 when the BOA undertook visits to Hiroshima, Bangkok, Seoul, China's Hong Kong, Macao and other mainland cities, according to Bernie Cotton, Olympic Performance Manager of BOA.
"Macao is in the same time zone and also offers similar climatic conditions as the Olympic Host City to aid acclimatization ... (and) it has excellent training facilities that are all easily accessible from the Westin resort Hotel where the team will be based and provides us with the sort of environment to help build the Team GB ethos prior to the Games," he said.
The Team GB sports basing themselves in Macao will include Archery, Ahtletics, Badminton, Beach Volleyball, Boxing, Fencing, Gymnastics, Hockey, Judo, Shooting, Table Tennis and so on.
Source: Xinhua
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