The Hindu : Sport : China signs MoU with India

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jul 03, 2005

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Sport - Sports : General

China signs MoU with India

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: The Chinese may be the leaders in the field of sports in Asia and may be getting ready to top the medals table in the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008, but the Chinese delegation, led by Sports Minister Liu Peng, showed humility in signing a Memorandum of Understanding for sports cooperation with the Indian Government and the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) here on Friday.

"India had hosted the first Asian Games in 1951 and another edition in 1982. We hosted the Asian Games only in 1990. We have drawn from your experience. We want to have closer relations in sports and strengthen the time-honoured friendship. The relations between the two countries go back a 1,000 years. We look forward to implementing each article of the MoU,'' said the Chinese Sports Minister and the president of the Chinese Olympic Committee, Liu Peng.

The Chinese Minister said that India was capable of hosting the Asian Games in 2014 and the Olympics in 2016. As the first step towards bilateral sports exchanges, the Chinese have invited India to send its delegation to observe the National Games of China in October, and also study the training programmes and the infrastructure in view of the Olympic Games to be hosted in Beijing.

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The Chinese minister observed that India and China, with large populations, were showing economic development and that sports development was an integral part of social development.

As per the MoU, there will be exchange of technical information, publications and films pertaining to coaching and training techniques; exchange of information on team selection criteria, team control and games organisation; exchange of technical information on the design and building of sports facilities and information on sports equipment.

There will also be exchange of coaches and technical information related to sports development systems and the identification of athletes with talent to compete at the highest level in Olympic disciplines.

The receiving side would pay for the accommodation, meals, internal transportation while the visiting side would pay for the travel, as per the agreement.

The MoU with the IOA would be valid for three years till June 30, 2008, while the one with the Union Government, signed by the Minister of State, Prithviraj Chavan, is only for 2005-06 and renewable thereafter. It covers the exchange of coaches, referees, judges and sports scientists as well as participation in national and international workshops or seminars.

For exchange of experts, Sports Authority of India (SAI) from the Indian side and the Human Resource Development Centre under General Administration of Sports in China have been designated as the nodal agencies.

The president of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), Suresh Kalmadi, said that it was a landmark day for Indian sports and expressed his appreciation of the Chinese by saying that they would top the medals table in the Beijing Games and make the whole of Asia proud.

The IOA president also disclosed that India's chances of hosting the 2014 Asian Games had been strengthened as only Korea, which had hosted the last Asian Games in Busan, had bid for it when the application time closed on Thursday.

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