ASPIRE receives Chinese sporting delegation

Neil Duncanson, marketing manager of ASPIRE, welcomed the delegation of five officials, which included the vice president of the Chinese Olympic committee, Lee Tsi Jian, and Wang Xiaolin, the general director of China's Wushu Administrative Centre, the organizational body that oversees the traditional Chinese martial arts sport of Wushu.

The Chinese delegation was given a guided tour of ASPIRE's facilities, including its state-of-the-art sports science labs, medical centre, indoor athletics track and olympic swimming pool. Impressed by what has been achieved by the Qatar academy, Lee Tsi Jian was full of praise for ASPIRE, and described the centre as being truly remarkable.

"The members of the Chinese delegation were inspired by what we are trying to achieve here," commented Duncanson. "With the Beijing Olympics only a few years away, they were eager to learn about how we are discovering national talent and unlocking the potential of our youth. We showed them aspects of ASPIRE's training techniques, and how the staff at ASPIRE are focusing on developing both sporting and educational excellence for our students."

Lee Tsi Jian and the other members of the Chinese delegation also expressed their desire to extend relations further with ASPIRE, and collaborate together to develop sporting success for both the Middle East and China.

"We have laid the best possible foundations for sporting excellence; now we hope to realize the potential of our pupils and see them perform at future Olympics, including those in Beijing. It is a great achievement that our success to date has been recognized by one of the world's most dynamic emerging markets - China -and we will continue acting as a regional and international example of sporting excellence," concluded Duncanson.