HUST 1st international student dragon boat friendly match kicked off at Yujia Lake on October 24th. Three teams – the Lion, the Tiger and the Panther, consisting of over 50 international students from more than a dozen schools took part in the 200m race.

Jingbo Sun, the dean of School of Physical Education, Shaoyuan Liu, vice dean of School of Physical Education, Rong Ma, chair of the school committee of School of International Education, Junhua Liu, dean of School of International Education, Xiang Gao, vice president of School of International Education and over a hundred faculty and students were present to watch the race.

At 9 a.m., after warming-up, paddlers began pre-race exercises to familiarize themselves with the course. At 10 a.m., upon Shaoyuan Liu’s announcement, the dragon boat race kicked off. As paddlers pushed forward vigorously, in perfect harmony, the din of them pulling the paddle through the water, of drummers beating the stroke and of audience cheering mixed into a deafening roar. Viewed from the riverbank, the three dragon boats flashed by like three arrows.

At the beginning, the Lion was ahead, with the Tiger chasing close behind. During the final 50 meters, the Panther surpassed the other two teams to win the race, followed by the Lion and the Tiger in second and third place respectively.

In the following awards ceremony, Liu congratulated the participants, and wished they could, by adopting Chinese dragon boat spirit, strengthen their physical fitness and study hard, so as to realize their dreams and make contributions to the exchanges of world cultures.

After the speech, leaders awarded medals to the three teams. The racers were all immersed in the joy of the race and expected to take part in the race again next year. “It’s so great to be on the lake,” one racer said, “I really enjoyed it!”

This international student dragon boat race marked the final of a series of dragon boat cultural events following the lecture on dragon boat exercise and culture and the dragon boat experience and training.

Written by: Jingyi Ye

Edited by: Aoyi Zhang, Scott, Yumeng Peng

Source: Official WeChat Account of HUST Physical Education