FISU World Conference under way in Chengdu

Over 400 experts and scholars are participating in academic discussions until 31 July at the Chengdu FISU World Conference, which officially started Saturday at the Crowne Plaza Hotel Wenjiang.

Under the theme University Sports: Embracing a Colorful World, the conference opening was hosted by Hao Ping, President of University Sports of China, who offered a warm welcome and revealed a total of 5,469 research paper submissions received by the forum from 199 institutes of 32 different countries, of which 1438 papers were selected.

The mayor of Chengdu Municipal of People’s Government, Wang Fengchao, gave his welcoming speech highlighting the focuses of the conference which are Sports Makes a City Better, Health Makes Life Brighter, Technologies Makes the Future Smarter, and Cultures Makes the World Integrated.

The ceremony continued with a speech from Dr. Verena Burk, FISU Senior Executive Committee Member, who emphasized the significance of science and mentioned the pandemic as the catalyst for studies.

The first session of Day 1 was ended by the Declaration of the Opening by the Acting Governor of Sichuan, Huang Qiang, and the playing of the FISU anthem.

The event went on with the opening keynote speeches by Huai Jinpeng, Minister of Education of the People’s Republic of China.

“Let us join hands together and share the mission to embrace the colorful world using sports as a medium to build a bridge for the growth of youth,” he said, adding he was expecting the FISU World Conference to achieve great results in promoting values of sports, enhancing sports changes and solving common challenges.

“This event will identify new ways of realizing the potential of sports in universities and beyond,” said the Deputy General of the UNESCO, Qu Xing, the second keynote speaker.

Leonz Eder, FISU Acting President, Zhong Bingshu, Vice President of Federation of University Sports of China and Gudrun Doll-Tepper, Member of the IOC Commission on Olympic Education were speakers on the opening panel led by Dr. Burk.

Topics discussed included impacts of holding World University Games in cities, athletes’ mental health awareness and E-sports. On the latter, Zhong Bingshu had a positive approach, describing it as a “brain activity”, while Leonz Eder and Gudrun Doll-Tepper expressed their hesitations in bringing it to FISU and the Olympics, respectively.

Day one ended with a few more keynote speeches, the awarding ceremony for FISU Healthy Campus where Peking University of Beijing City notched the title, and a chance to experience traditional Chinese sports such as touhu and chuiwan.

Written by Noor Saleha Salem, FISU Young Reporter