Chinese bats for modern infrastructure at GC Foster
DR Anlee Wang, leader of the group of six Chinese coaches who are here to take up Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller’s offer of scholarships to GC Foster, had high praises for the hospitality received by the team so far.
Dr Wang said that the infrastructure at the college should be better to represent Jamaica, and that had it been better the nation would have produced many more Bolts already.
He hoped that the government will put more money into the college as it did not look like a modern facility in terms of its infrastructure. He also said that he had got permission to invite the principal or the minister of education to visit their Beijing University of Sport with the intention of developing further corporation between the two organisations.
The six Chinese coaches who are in Jamaica for a special one-month course in sprinting at GC Foster College, were feted at the Knutsford Court Hotel in Kingston on Thursday night.
GC Foster College principal Edward Shakes, in his address to the gathering, said that the coaches were fitting in well.
They had structured classes led by Jamaica’s Technical Leader Maurice Wilson. They were observing the training sessions of the students, including those who were preparing for the National Senior Trials, which is set for this weekend. Shakes indicated that they were trying to learn as much as they can about track and field in Jamaica.
The Chinese issued an invitation for persons at the college to visit the Beijing University of Sport — the university to which the coaches are attached — with a view to forming an alliance to the mutual benefit of the two organisations.
Also at the function was His Excellency Dong Xiaojun, Ambassador of the Peoples Republic of China, who was pleased that China had been able to take up the prime minister’s offer of 10 scholarships to GC Foster College.
The remaining four scholarships will be taken up by students who will begin full-time classes in September. He said that in time he hoped to assist Jamaica in the sports that they were good at.
Those include table tennis, badminton and gymnastics. Additionally, he said that he hoped that they learn how to run as fast as Jamaicans.
The six coaches are Hongtao Chen , Yan Juntao, Yingbo Zhang, Hiu Yang, Anlee Wang, and Li Xiumei, who is the lone female in the group.
Collett Roberts-Risden, the chief technical director in the office of the prime minister, and Dr Franklyn Johnston, chief advisor to the minister of education, brought greetings on behalf of their respective institutions.
