When Macau’s WorldSkills competitors landed at Macau International Airport on Sept. 28, they returned with three medals from Shanghai and a larger set of results shared across the delegation. A government photo caption identified the welcome ceremony and Secretary for Economy and Finance Ng Wai Han’s attendance. The team had competed in 22 skills categories at the 48th WorldSkills Competition, according to The Macau Post Daily.
Wong Weng Kei won gold in Visual Merchandising, Chao Chi Hou earned silver in Unmanned Aerial Systems, and Carvalho Hoo Cloe took bronze in Retail Sales, according to the Macao government’s Sept. 28 congratulatory release. Eleven other competitors received Medals for Excellence. The government said the delegation’s results included its first gold medal since the 2017 competition and the first time it had won gold, silver and bronze at the same edition.
The medal count tells only part of the team’s story. The 24 competitors entered 22 skills categories, the largest number of events Macau had entered since it first participated in WorldSkills in 1983, The Macau Post Daily reported. The competition brought together competitors from around the world in Shanghai, where the Macau team had to show its skills in unfamiliar settings.
Before reaching the international event, competitors generally had to be under 22, become the top representative in their skill in Macau, and complete between 300 and 600 hours of training, Labour Affairs Bureau Director Chan Un Tong told reporters at the airport. The Macau Post Daily reported that Chan said the 24 competitors balanced their preparation with studies and training.
For gold medalist Wong, the preparation stretched across a year. Wong told the newspaper that intensive practice, a professional team and dedicated training facilities were part of that preparation. The venue still brought changes competitors could not fully reproduce in training: walls, flooring and other materials might differ from what they used during practice.
Wong said competitors had to familiarize themselves with the venue on the day of the event. That meant adjusting to the setting while preparing to perform, rather than relying on practice conditions to be identical. Wong’s account offers a glimpse of how technical skill and flexibility meet in a competition where materials and surroundings can change.
The government’s medal release lists three distinct categories: Visual Merchandising, Unmanned Aerial Systems and Retail Sales. The official names show the range of work represented by the medals, from presentation and design to a technical systems category and retail. The sources do not provide a full description of the final tasks, so the results are best understood through the categories and the competitors’ own accounts of preparation and adaptation.
At the airport, Chan said the results showed that Macau’s young competitors had skills meeting international standards. The Macau Post Daily reported that he also said the Labour Affairs Bureau would work with educational institutions and other partners to expand opportunities for young people to receive vocational training. In a separate interview, Wong spoke about the preparation and the need to adapt to conditions in Shanghai.
The government’s congratulatory letter described the medalists’ results as the product of long-term personal effort as well as wider support for vocational skills education. It also credited cooperation among government, tertiary institutions and other sectors in preparing competitors. At the welcome ceremony, Ng praised the competitors’ sustained effort, guidance from expert teams, and support from training institutions and families, according to The Macau Post Daily’s account of her remarks.
Together, the ceremony and the interviews put both the public recognition and the work behind it in view. The three medalists brought home gold, silver and bronze, while 11 teammates were recognized with Medals for Excellence. The remaining competitors were part of the 24-person team that trained, traveled and competed across 22 skills categories.
The return on Sept. 28 marked the end of the Shanghai competition and a moment for the delegation to be welcomed home. The results added a new combination of medals to Macau’s WorldSkills record. Wong’s description also shows that preparation did not mean every condition could be predicted: competitors still had to take stock of the venue and adjust on competition day.
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