LISBOA – The annual Portuguese University Sports Gala had a special edition this year. To celebrate its 25th anniversary, the Portuguese Academic University Sports Federation (FADU) has honoured 25 personalities and institutions that made an impression the last 25 years, since its foundation.
FISU was represented by its President, Mr. Claude-Louis Gallien, who was invited on stage to receive one of the honours for recognizing FADU as the legit representative of the Portuguese university sports.
Later, the medallists of the 2015 European University Championships and the 28th Summer Universiade received the FADU awards from Mr. Claude-Louis Gallien and Mr. Adam Roczek, President of the European University Sports Association (EUSA).
The best athletes, teams and coach of the year were also awarded. University of Porto was the main winner of the night, with the prizes of the best male athlete, female team and coach. It also won the trophy for being the University with the highest final ranking.
This year’s Gala introduced a new award for the promotion of Dual Careers. Promoted by FADU and Jogos Santa Casa, the student-athlete that has successfully combined his/her studies with a sports career won an annual scholarship. The winner was Tiago Gomes, a 5th year medicine student at the University of Minho and football player who this year won the national university championship and captured bronze at the EUC. He is also a Taekwondo athlete.
The president of FADU centred her speech on the urgent needs of university sports. For Filipa Godinho “It is urgent to consider measures such as the inclusion of sport as a weighting factor for the rankings of higher education institutions, an awareness of the sports system of the capital gains and contributions of university sport or a real framework of what is a student-athlete in higher education”.
Mr Claude-Louis Gallien also had a brief speech where he recognized the importance of the Portuguese university sports in the international context. He remembered when FADU was founded and highlighted his pleasure in knowing that it would be a federation made by students, with students and for students.
During the morning, Mr. Claude-Louis Gallien was also a speaker at the FADU Forum, on the panel discussion about Dual Careers and the statute of student-athlete. Together with Mr. Adam Roczek, Mr. Carlos Paula Cardoso, President of the Portuguese Sports Confederation, and Rui Bragança, winner of the silver medal in Taekwondo at the 28th Summer Universiade and gold at the Baku Games, they emphasized the importance of dual careers and compared the reality of student-athletes in different countries.
(Source: FADU)