27th Official Asian Games Fun
Run in Guangzhou, China
21-06-2006
Over 400 children took part
in the the 27th Asian Games Fun Run at the Guangzhou Tianhe
Sports Centre on Wednesday 21st June. The event consisted
of three groups taking part in relay fun runs which included
running while holding a ball, dribbling a ball, sideways and
backwards running, rope-skipping, and lastly running while
holding a flag.
Organised by the Olympic
Council of Asia (OCA), the Chinese Olympic Committee (COC),
the Guangzhou Asian Games Organising Committee, the Bureau
of Education of Guangzhou Municipality and the
Administration of Sports of Guangzhou Municipality, the fun
run was open to children in grades 3, 4 and 5 (ages 8 – 10)
from three schools from Guangzhou. Each school prepared
their own warm-up routine and performed it in front of the
VIP guests and 300 other children from the three schools who
came to cheer on their classmates.
Each child taking part was
presented with a certificate of achievement, a limited
edition 15th Asian Games T-shirt from the OCA, and each
school was also awarded a plaque for their warm-up routines.
Dignitaries from the COC and
leaders from the governments of the Guangdong Province, as
well as Ms LIU Siu-Hua, an Asian Games gold medal winning
weightlifter, and Mr Haider Farman, Asian Games Manager, OCA
were present for the opening ceremony, which was hosted by
Mr LIU Jiangnan, Deputy Secretary General, GAGOC and
Director General, Administration of Sports of Guangzhou
Municipality.
After the fun run the VIPs
presented medals to the winners from each age group and to
the teachers of the three schools taking part.
Orry, the official mascot of
the 15th Asian Games Doha 2006, was also present at the fun
run and proved very popular with the children participating
in the event, and those watching it.
There was a huge media
presence at the event with 12 different newspapers, the
Xinhua News Agency, four TV stations and three radio
stations all there to report on the morning’s activities.
