Sports: On Chinese Sports Discipline
The Chinese sports disciplines paid off when it still leading in the medal
tally in the 2012 London Olympic. They collected a total of 30 medals as of last
night, with the same number as that with USA, but they lead in gold medal
harvest with 17 as against to 13. Another Asian country, South Korea is third
with 6 gold medals.
Chinese sports disciplines are not an overnight production of heroes, as what we think, but a rigid one that an athlete would even sacrifice not to see his or her family for many years and even won’t know their loved ones were already dead. This is true with two youngsters who reaped gold medals just recently for China in swimming and diving. Ye Shiwen and Wu Minxia started their training at age 6 and were taken from their families by Chinese government at age 16. Ye Shiwen were double gold medalists in 400 meter medley and 200 meter, while Wu Minxia won the gold in diving. As both confided they missed their families at an early age, Wu got the worst news that her grandparents died two years ago and her mother is suffering from breast cancer. She only knew this after she won the Olympic gold medal.
In 2008, I was in Guangzhou, China and I personally observed how Chinese athletes were deprived of their freedom once they were recruited to become an athlete. Each province in China has its own sports academy.
Guangzhou is also the site of 2010 Asian Games where located this sports academy with complete sports facilities, a huge sports stadium, hotel and athletes villages inside. Their government conducted tryouts in barangay levels, district and provincial meets and those excel and scouted with potential will stay to train, study and eat inside the sports academy. They were deprived of seeing their families once they are inside. Only their families can visit them by appointment. Their contact was only through letter and nothing more. With selection among the 1.3 billion population of China, no wonder they excel in sports and maybe there is truth to their saying "in the long run China will win".
What is there in China that Philippines don’t have? We have the same mind and body. How About training? How about government support? Well, your guess is as good as mine. Look at Singapore. This island country is as big as Guimaras but they already one bronze medal.
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Starting today until Sunday, the 5th Asia Pacific Tchoukball Championship will commence at the West Negros University gym. I don’t understand this sport as well as it is not as popular with other sports like basketball but Pastor Gary Visitacion assured this one is really exciting and a breath-taking sport. I once witness some players practice at BAYS Center and I tried to absorb how it is being played but I can’t really appreciate.
Maybe today, I will be convinced and deal with this sport covering just like what I did when I did not appreciate football but later on addicted to it. I hope this sport will continue to hold games here so other may get interested on how it is being played.
Hopefully, this kind of sport will give more attractions to our visitors what we have here in Bacolod City and Negros Occidental. Really, this is part of sports tourism of this city and province which is the easier way of attract foreign visitors to come. Hosting of international sports like this will really put our city on the map of sports in the world. Why not host more international sports competition here?*
