The Friendship Games

Nov. 29 - The 6^th annual Guangzhou Friendship Games commenced yesterday at the city's Jinan University. This year, there were five sports: basketball, tennis, table tennis, badminton and a light version of football with only five players per team. Over 600 foreign friends from 43 countries and 300 more Chinese citizens joined the event. Several foreign students from GDUFS also took part in the games.

Cipta, an Indonesian student, has lived in China for over four years.It s no wonder he speaks fluent Chinese. For the Friendship Games, Cipta signed up to play badminton because it is the national sport in Indonesia. Short but sturdy, Cipta appeared to be quite a formidable player. In the first round, Cipta coasted to easy victory with a high score. Unfortunately, however, Cipta encountered a difficult rival in the second round. Though he tried his utmost, a failure seemed to be looming. By the time that the final score had been calculated, Cipta had lost, but he did not show any trace of unhappiness. "I came to play with a single goal in mind- fun", the optimistic young man said with a smile.

Cipta on the badminton court

Every day, but especially on weekends, the GDUFS track and field area is always full of people playing football, and it s hard to miss the foreign faces among the players. Sharing a common love for football, many of the foreign students at GDUFS formed a team and headed to the games. Their game started at ten o'clock on November 29^th. The sun was shining brightly and the spectators were enthusiastic as they squared off against the students from Jinan University. As it was the first time for the foreign students from GDUFS to play together as a team, they lacked cohesion.But that did not make the game any less exciting and after a good run, they lost 1:4. In the future, with more experience and cooperation, a more mature soccer team will represent the foreign students at the next game.

The games ended in a roar of applause. The students from GDUFS didn't bring home the gold; however, the smiles on their faces made us believe that the friendship and happiness they experienced was more than enough of a prize.