The Regional Director for Sport, António Gomes, welcomed in Ponta Delgada on Tuesday the National Association of Intellectual Disabilities, which has proposed the organisation of the World Championship of Adapted Track and Field in the Azores.

The National Association had already conveyed the idea and, bearing in mind the work that has been carried out in the Region at the level of adapted track and field, it has decided to present it formally, mentioned the Regional Director.

The2nd edition of the global sports event will be held in 2012, being addressed at athletes with Down Syndrome. The 1st edition took place in 2010 in Mexico where an Azorean athlete from the island of Pico won the championship, becoming world record-holder in the category of track and field for athletes with this intellectual pathology.

According to António Gomes, the meeting was held with the purpose of assessing the necessary effort in terms of logistics and infrastructures so that the Region may ensure its application for this event.

The Regional Director for Sport also met with the Board of the São Miguel Tennis Club, which presented the project to expand its premises as the response capacity in terms of physical space is not sufficient to meet the increasing demand.
António Gomes mentioned that the concern was to find a solution that may serve these interests, but it must be adapted to the current economic and financial context.

The Regional Director said that the Club will develop a set of technical procedures among the entity providing support in the area of architecture in order to submit by May a definitive project that allows the Regional Government to consider the possibility of supporting this need.