'Olympic standard' for Tianjin to host the East Asian Games

Tianjin, one of the venues for soccer during the 2008 Beijing Games, plans to maintain that "Olympic standard" when the coastal city hosts the East Asian Games in October.

Xie Delong, deputy director and spokesman for the executive board of the upcoming games, said the organizing committee is learning from Beijing how to hold an international multi-sports event.

"There will be no manual scoring during the games. All the scoring systems will be electronic," Xie said.

Most stadiums and gymnasiums in Tianjin have already met Olympic standards. But due to limited space, different groups of people have to share areas in some venues, such as the fencing venue at the Tianjin Foreign Studies University.

Xie also said a wireless network and cable network would be in place at all the stadiums.

"Delegation members will not be required to provide a visa when entering China, as long as they have an accreditation card provided by the committee," he said.

The East Asian Games, which are scheduled from Oct 6-15, have been held every four years since 1993. The games feature several sports with particular regional characteristics, such as dragon boat racing, karate and kung fu.

Tianjin will be the second city in Chinese mainland to host the event, after Shanghai in 1993. It will be the largest international sports event to be held in the city.

"There is no qualification for these games, so we will only know the exact number of athletes and the full schedule by the end of September, at the earliest, which makes organizing very difficult," Xie said.

So far, more than 6,000 athletes, coaches and officials from nine countries and regions have registered for the games.

Wang Meizhen, a volunteer for the games, said although the event will not be held until October, she and her colleagues have already started work.

"I work one day a week and my main job at the moment is to type information about the athletes into a computer system. When the event starts, I might also help with other work related to the use of English," said the English major from Nankai University in Tianjin.

Wang is one among thousands to have passed a selection process that tested the applicants' English skills as well as their cultural and geographic knowledge of the port city.

The volunteers are also expected to take training classes involving basic information about the event and first aid.

"I love being a volunteer. It offers a sense of fulfillment by helping others. I think the job will require a lot of diplomacy and patience and ultimately improve my work skills," she said.

The 22-year-old student was a coordinator with a 30-member delegation during a mining fair held in Tianjin last year.

"The work of a volunteer is intense but meaningful," she said. "Any details that are being solved in an improper way could result in a diplomatic dispute."

Contact the writers at zhaoyinan@chinadaily.com.cn, zhangmin@chinadaily.com.cn.

(China Daily 05/16/2013 page23)