On October 25th, the Portuguese Sports Confederation held its annual Sports Gala at Estoril Casino in Lisbon – the same venue of the closing ceremony of 2004 FISU Forum. The Portuguese Presidency Minister, Pedro Silva Pereira, the Portuguese Sports Secretary of State, Laurentino Dias, the Portuguese Olympic Committee President, Vicente de Moura, FADU President, Paulo Ferreira, amongst other guests attended this Gala.
Pedro Dias, FISU Executive Committee member and former FADU President, was honoured with the Sports Merit Award in the category of Sports Person of the Year.
This recognition is an honour to FADU and to the Portuguese University Sports movement in general. Due to the fact that Pedro Dias was attending the FISU Executive Committee Meeting in Brussels, he was represented by the University of Minho Rector.
At the same Sports Gala, 2007 Universiade 5,000m gold medallist in Athletics Jessica Augusto, was nominated for the category of Female Athlete of the Year. The winner of this category was the triathlon world champion Vanessa Fernandes. (http://www.fisu.net)