First Silver! ZJU International Dragon Boat Team Sets New Record

"Experience China"-The 16th Shanghai Region and 4th Yangtze River Delta HEIs International Students Dragon Boat Race recently kicked off at the Fengxian Campus of East China University of Science and Technology. Hosted by the China Scholarship Council, the event attracted 716 international students from 32 universities across the region. A team of 21 international students from Zhejiang University (ZJU) participated in the competition and won second place.

The competition featured a 200-meter straight sprint for mixed-gender teams. Competing against teams from various universities, the ZJU team finished first in the heats with a time of 51.65 seconds. In the final round, they clocked 53.53 seconds, securing the silver medal and setting a new school record for the event.

The ZJU team consisted of students from diverse countries, including Greece, the United States, Myanmar, Russia, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Iran. Over a month of intensive training, the members progressed from beginners to a well-coordinated squad, practicing early in the morning and under the hot sun to build teamwork and master the sport.

"Over the past month, we started from scratch and trained hard in the scorching sun," said KONG Junyi, a Malaysian undergraduate from the Class of 2021 who served as the team leader, coach, and rower. "We set a new record in the heats. Although we finished second in the final, this will motivate us to come back stronger next year."

Other team members also shared their excitement. Nadapana Pranav, an American undergraduate majoring in clinical medicine, noted that the experience helped him better understand Chinese culture and the power of teamwork. "I found a team that truly made me fall in love with team sports again," he said. Nazarenko Polina, a Russian postgraduate studying management science and engineering, expressed gratitude to her teammates, hoping to win the championship next year. Juliana Zanoni Tao, a Brazilian postgraduate majoring in international affairs and global governance, highlighted the rare opportunity to practice a traditional Chinese sport and praised the team's dedication, noting that she had never even boarded a dragon boat a month prior to the competition.

Adapted and translated from the article written by Student Affairs Office
Translator: JIANG Chenqi ('27, Structural Engineering)
Photo: the interviewees
Editor: JIANG Chenqi, DING Chenwei