With beating of drums, clapping and crying out of the crowd, dragon boat team of the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) hit the finish line firstly at the final of the 3rd Anhui Dragon Boat Open (or the dragon boat race of the 4th Anhui national fitness sports meeting competition) on October 21st.at the beautiful Balihe Scenic Spots, Yingshang, Anhui. After two days’ fight with endurance and speed, USTC team has kept its excellent history and took the first prize for the third time since this race was set up in 2014.
(USTC team celebrated on the podium, image by USTC News Center)
Ten university teams competed in events of 100 meters straight and 200 meters straight, with preliminary, semi-final and final were held in October 20th,21st respectively. The preliminary match eliminated two teams and 8 semi-finalists was separated into two groups to compete to be the 4 finalists. USTC team advanced to the final of 100 meters straight with excellent scores on the morning of 20th and 200 meter straight in the afternoon.
Winners, selected on 20th, Anqing Normal University Team, Hefei Normal University Team, which is composed of professional canoeing athletes, USTC Team, Western Anhui University Team raced in the final on the rainy morning of 21st. Despite the weather, all players of USTC team did warm-up actively, they made concerted efforts and encouraged each other during the competition, finally won the 1st prize and approval with the best condition and performance.
(Before the race, image by USTC News Center)
With its outstanding records, the success of the team comes from tough training before the race and the responsibility of physical education teacher. The training lasted more than one month before the race, regardless of sunny or rainy days, the team and teacher was always working hard.
(Group photo with Coach SI Zhiwen after the race, image by USTC News Center)
USTC dragon boat team won numerous awards since it was founded in 2012. They have won the 1st prize consecutively for the four times in Hangzhou dragon boat race for C9 league and three times in Anhui Dragon Boat Open (the university group).
(TANG Yi, USTC News Center)
