http://maigoc2007.sports.sina.com.cn 2006-04-04 MAIGOC
The Association of the Portuguese Speaking Countries OlympicCommittees (ACOLOP) General Assembly has accepted the National OlympicCommittees of India and Sri Lankaas associate members， whom will also be granted the opportunity to join the 1stLusofonia Games to be held in Macau this year.
In consideration of its Portuguese speaking communities， the NationalOlympic Committees (NOCs) of Indiaand Sri Lankaproposed to join ACOLOP and participate in the 1st Lusofonia Games.The ACOLOP General Assembly held an urgent meeting yesterday and accepted thisproposal unanimously.
The National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka will send a fulldelegation to join the 1st Lusofonia Games; whilst， the State of Goain India， where the country’s majority of the Portuguese speaking population islocated， will have it’s local Olympic Association representatives organizingthe delegation to join the Games with full support from the Indian Olympic Association.However， as the Games is drawing near， the ACOLOP General Assembly will put arestriction to the number of delegation for both the India and Sri Landa NOCs.
In addition， the Indian Olympic Association also expressed a verypreliminary interest in hosting the Lusofonia Games after the 2ndEdition.
The inclusion of the two countries has set a new criterion for theacceptance of the Portuguese speaking countries and regions from all over the worldto join ACOLOP and to participate in the Games.In this way， the Vice-president of ACOLOP Manuel Silvério addressed that， the opportunitywould help to promote sport and cultural exchanges， which in turn enhance theties among the Portuguese speaking countries and regions from differentcontinents.
The 1st Lusofonia Games will be held on 7th-15thOctober this year， in addition to the two new members， there will be together 12countries and regions competing in 8 sports in the Games.
