The Prime Minister, Dr. Rui Maria de Araújo, has met with players and Timorese athletes from seven sports, who participate in the 28th Sea Games [South East Asian Games - sporting contacts between Southeast Asian countries] to be held in Singapore from June 5th to June 16th 2015.
The Head of the Executive and the Secretary of State for Youth and Sports, Leovigildo Hornay, have met with sportsmen from different sports: football, basketball, boxing, cycling, Taekwondo, Silat and athletics, in the Secretariat of Youth and Sports, in Sional, in Díli, before leaving for the airport, heading for Singapore.
“Sports are very important and even more when we are referring to youth sports,” said the Prime Minister, highlighting the importance of sports activities for health and for character development, as it allows you to know when to attack and defend, win or distract the opponent.
The Prime Minister also highlighted that sport is a school of life, and it is important to develop school sport. Therefore, he asked to the Secretary of State to work on this issue in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, to enable schools to train future sportsmen.
“It is now time to project our vision on the practice of school sports for the future, from Primary School onwards. ( … ) Most athletes are recruited among young people. Therefore, we ask the Secretariat of State for Youth and Sports to harmonize these two policies : youth and sports, so that young people do not waste their energies and, on the contrary, use them to achieve positive results, through sports, which forces us to create conditions for the practice of sports. “
On this occasion, Rui Maria de Araújo asked for an investment by the private sector, given that 90% of the investment is being made by the State: “Sports in Timor-Leste need sources of funding to encourage their development.”
The Prime-Minister asked the Secretary of State for Youth and Sports to ensure that Timorese athletes shall be entitled to daily allowances to meet their needs abroad, when participating in international events.
The Head of the Executive also called on the athletes to challenge them to win medals for Timor-Leste.