At the most recent National Games, Macao’s sports delegation fielded 420 participants, including 295 athletes competing across 23 events. The team finished with three gold and two bronze medals – Macao’s strongest performance since its first appearance at the Games.
Overall, eight world records and 13 Asian records were set at the 15th National Games. In 12 events, the winners’ results exceeded those of the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Following the event, Macao Special Administrative Region (MSAR) Chief Executive Sam Hou Fai congratulated the Macao delegation for achieving the best-ever results in the history of the Games. He praised local athletes, saying they delivered standout performances in multiple competitions, bringing pride and encouragement to the community while writing “a new chapter” in the integrated development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
The Secretary-General of the Sports and Olympic Committee of Macau, China, Ma Chi Seng said popular sports such as table tennis featured several top-level clashes in the Macao competition zone, while karate emerged as a new marquee discipline for local sport: all of the city’s five medals were in this discipline.
He says the overall results reflect Macao’s structural progress in competitive sport. “These achievements demonstrate the effectiveness of the MSAR Government’s long-term investment in sport and show that Macao’s athletes are capable of competing alongside the country’s top talent,” Mr Ma said. “Their resilience, determination and pursuit of excellence have repeatedly delivered outstanding results.”
Mr Ma also emphasises the strength of Macao’s talent pipeline, noting that both seasoned athletes and first-time competitors performed at a high level – something he described as “truly inspiring”.
Macao’s accomplishments at the National Games, however, did not happen overnight. The city made its debut in 2001 at the 9th National Games in Guangzhou, Guangdong province – its first participation in a national multisport event as a Special Administrative Region – after the December 20, 1999 handover. The delegation at the time comprised 168 athletes competing in 20 disciplines including swimming, athletics, fencing and table tennis. Although the team did not win medals, the appearance marked Macao’s formal entry into the national sports system.
A breakthrough came at the 14th National Games in 2021, held in Xi’an, Shaanxi province, when karate athlete Kuok Kin Hang secured bronze in the men’s kata event. It was not only Macao’s first medal of that edition but also its first-ever National Games medal.
Yet another breakthrough was made at this year’s 15th National Games when Kuok and the Macao team clinched first place in the men’s team kata category – the first-ever gold for Macao in the National Games. Shortly afterwards, local karate athletes Iong Kuang Hou and Fong Man Wai also claimed gold medals in the men’s under 67kg and women’s under 55kg kumite events, respectively, at the Games. Additionally, karate athletes Xu Jiacheng and Lei Hong Kio secured bronze medals in the same events, respectively.
