China Sports World's Earthquake Response
Wednesday, 14th May 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
As the death toll from the Wenchuan earthquake rises, and military and aid workers race to rescue trapped victims, China's sports celebrities are lining up with donations and words of encouragement and compassion. At an event Wednesday Beijing, all the national team members who train in Beijing showed their support for victims, according to this Xinhua report."We cannot go there in person but we will do our part in the relief," Liu Xiang said at the Beijing event.
Here are some of the donation amounts reported by Chinese media: 500,000 yuan ($71,395) each from Houston Rockets center Yao Ming, 110-meter hurdler Liu Xiang and diver Guo Jingjing; 100,000 yuan ($14,279) from Yi Jianlian and 980,000 yuan ($139,936) from the table tennis team. The State General Administration for Sport donated 5 million yuan ($714,000).
No Olympic venues were affected by the quake, but some sports competitions have been. According to China Daily, the Chinese soccer Super League postponed its Wednesday games until Saturday and the Chinese Football Association (CFA) is planning charity games to raise money for Sichuan. The paper also reported that the quake brought "Vision China Project, a nation-wide grassroots soccer event held by Asian Football Confederation, to an abrupt end."
Front page of Titan Sports, May 14.
The day after the quake, the Olympic torch relay's stop in Ruijin, Jiangxi province, began with a moment of silence; this observation will continue at each of the nearly 100 remaining cities on the route. The route remains unchanged, but ceremonies and celebrations are being scaled back, said BOCOG spokesperson Sun Weide.
In print media, the country's biggest sports newspaper, Titan Sports, ran front-page coverage of the quake's impact on the sporting world. The headline above reads: "Shaken: Right now, we are all from Sichuan." And in the large photo, torchbearers line up to put envelopes in a box marked: "Sichuan disaster area donations." The torch is scheduled to enter Sichuan on June 14.
Tags: Sichuan earthquake, Wenchuan earthquake
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