Farkhund Yousafzai
Shanghai, 17 August 2024 (TDI): The Paris Olympics have ended, but sports fever in Shanghai is continuing with Chinese and US university students’ exchanges.
On Thursday, the 2024 China-US University Tennis Friendship Tournament started at the Qizhong Tennis Center, venue for the annual Rolex Shanghai Masters, with over 20 students and coaches from the two nations.
The students are from prestigious US higher-education institutions, such as Dartmouth College and Boston University, and famous Chinese colleges including East China University of Science and Technology and Zhejiang University.
The event, including group and individual competitions, is hosted by East China University of Science and Technology and Shanghai Juss Sports Development Group and aims to promote Sino-US cooperation and exchanges. Besides competitions, the US students and teachers will visit local landmarks and participate in cultural experiences to develop their knowledge on China.
It’s also part of the city’s efforts to implement the initiative raised by Chinese President Xi Jinping to invite fifty thousand US students to China to enhance exchanges between the two nations.
Shen Haitao, deputy Party chief of East China University of Science and Technology, said that via sports, a common language of the world, students will build a bridge of friendship, have a deeper understanding of each other, inject new impetus into the long-term development of bilateral ties, and work together to create a better globe.
The US students and coaches said they were impressed by the performance of tennis players of China at the Paris Olympics, such as Zheng Qinwen and Zhang Zhizhen, the women’s singles gold medal winner and a silver medal winner in mixed doubles, respectively, and were waiting for competing with their Chinese peers.
Some of them are on their first tour to China.
Meanwhile, two basketball competitions took place at Shanghai Jiao Tong University’s Fok Ying Tung Sports Center on Friday – one between men’s teams from New York University and SJTU and the other between women’s teams from both universities.
The stadium was filled with cheers and shouting on Friday evening during the Buick 2024 Campus Invitational.
