Sports Strengthen Friendship
WUHAN (CHN) - The 7th CWG is in full swing in Wuhan, and athletes from all over the world are showing their perseverance and sportsmanship in each and every competition. These events have helped to foster friendships among citizens and participants who are all interested in peaceful and harmonious relationships.
Opponents but Friends
At the Volunteers Home in the Athletes' Village, there is a wall where athletes can leave messages. Reading the messages, one can feel their friendship building.
Iana Egorian from Russia and Qian Jiarui from China competed against each other in the women's individual sabre final. After the competition, they chatted merrily on the podium and took photos together. Iana Egorian asked Qian to take her out to try some local food, solidifying their friendship.
Exchanging Gifts
On October 22, 200m obstacle swim, 100m manikin tow with fins, and 4×50m medley relay kicked off at Wuhan Five Rings Sports Center. After the competition, one of the Dutch athletes didn't leave right away but chose to give a special gift to volunteer Li Yongxing. Li served as an assistant for the Netherlands delegation during lifesaving competition, providing guidance and interpretation for the athletes.
The gift was a ceramic pot with scenery of Amsterdam's streets painted on it, and a bag of waffles packed carefully in a blue gift box. Li was delighted with the unexpected gift and sent a traditional folding fan in exchange. The fan had two Chinese characters "清风（qīng fēng)" on it, which means gentle breeze.
Establishing friendship
The warmth between participants transcends boundaries. Peng Yiting, a sophomore at Wuhan Polytechnic, is a language volunteer. She received a badge from the German delegation on the first day of the military pentathlon. Peng said that the first event of the military pentathlon was shooting. Immediately before the game, the German team found no earplugs were prepared for them. Peng rushed to solve this issue, and finally got earplugs for the athletes to complete the game. "They expressed their gratitude towards me by giving me an official badge of the German delegation," Peng said.
On October 19, Xi Ziyang, a local primary school student seated next to Marut Rodboon, a Thai coordinator, when enjoying a boxing game with his family. Rodboon gave his badge to the little boy as a present, and they took some photos together.
In order to express his gratitude, Xi went back to the gymnasium the day after, giving Rodboon flowers and a Han embroidery of the Yellow Crane Tower. The coordinator was touched, saying that he never expected to have such a little friend here and he expressed that he would like to continue this friendship and keep in touch with Xi.
(Source: SUMOC Executive Committee - Reporter Li Wei, Li Jia & Cai Xinxing - Editor NIE Yang)
