World Events

Stars

China

Basketball

Soccer

Tennis

N.America

Olympics

Overseas volunteers to serve Asiad

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-07-02 10:58

GUANGZHOU: Organizers of the Guangzhou 2010 Asian Games will team up with Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan's overseas affairs offices to recruit volunteers for the event, an official with the organizing committee said yesterday.

"We have started initial talks with the overseas affairs offices of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan to recruit more overseas volunteers, who will be an important part of services to better promote the Games' image," Lin Yanfen, deputy director of the organizing committee's volunteer service department, said.

To date just 185 overseas Chinese from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan have submitted their applications, according to Lin. The first foreign volunteer, Alberto de Valle, a Latin dance instructor working in Guangzhou, was signed up in May.

Related readings:  Guangzhou Games notches record sponsorship  Sports Special: Asiad signs first foreign volunteer and seeks more  Asiad volunteer drive to begin  Guangzhou plans to recycle 2010 Asiad technology  Better air for Asiad 'tough task'

Meanwhile, Hong Kong will send its strongest ever delegation to the Games and encourage citizens to serve as volunteers, Timothy Fok, president of the Sports Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, said earlier.

The number of overseas applicants represents only a small ratio of the total, Lin said.

As of June 29, organizers had received as many as 131,512 applications, about 60 percent of them college students, via its official website and 67 application centers across downtown Guangzhou, Lin said.

The organizing committee launched a large-scale recruitment drive for volunteers for the Games and the 10th Asian Games for Disabled in April this year. The department is seeking 90,000 volunteers to work across events at both the Asiad and the disabled games, Lin said.

Many household names such as Hong Kong pop star Andy Lau and Chen Xiexia, the first gold medal winner at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, have been appointed volunteers or image ambassadors for the forthcoming Asiad.

"We will set up more application centers in downtown streets, in a bid to attract more applicants," Lin said.

Lin added the volunteers would be organized to take part in more social and business events such as the Canton Fair to gain experience before the Games begin next year on November 12.