14th Asian Sailing Championship tees off

by Zhu Runfang, GAGOC on 24 Mar 2010 The14th Asian Sailing Championship, a Test Event for the Guangzhou 2010 Asian Games, teed off with an opening ceremony at the Guangdong Ocean Sports Training Centre in Shanwei of Guangdong Province on Monday night, according to Guangzhou Daily.

A fabulous evening gala featuring local customs and culture was staged alongside with the opening ceremony, which also included attendance of Ye Xiquan and Tian Xinde, Deputy Secretary Generals of the Guangzhou Asian Games Organising Committee (GAGOC), Liu Gang, Deputy Director of the Aquatic Sports Administration Centre of the General Administration of Sport of China (GASC), Li Quanhai, Deputy Director of the Aquatic Sports Administration Centre of GASC and President of the Asian Sailing Federation, and Zheng Yanxiong, Mayor of Shanwei.

Li, on behalf of the Asian Sailing Federation, addressed the opening, acknowledging all manner of support and coordination extended from all participating parties and honouring GAGOC and Shanwei for delivering such an excellent set-up for the event.

The regatta runs from March 23 to 29 and features 14 classes exactly the same as the Sailing event of the 16th Asian Games. Fourteen teams of 332 athletes, coaches and officials from Asian countries and regions compete for a number of 14 gold medals in the championship, making it the largest ever Asian Sailing Championship in terms of participating athletes and teams. Chinese sailing team is the only team to compete in all classes of the regatta.