(China Sports) College championships promote taekwondo in China

Against a mere hundred student players one decade ago, there are almost 1,300 from 120 colleges around the country joining in the 2015 Chinese Taekwondo Championships for College Students.

With the number of players growing year after year, the sport of taekwondo is becoming more and more popular in China's colleges nowadays.

In 2003, Lin Yingchao, who is still in Nankai University, was a student at high school, and became to love taekwondo by accident.

"There was a gym on my way home, I was addicted with the popular sports at the first time. Suddenly I lost my interest in other sports except taekwondo," Lin said.

In 2005, Tianjin University of Technology set up the University Taekwondo Association of China, which held the national championships for college students since then to promote the development of athletic training and taekwondo competition in colleges.

Lin became a beneficiary as he accepted systematic training right after he entered Nankai. Since training yard of taekwondo was unavailable at the time, Lin had to carry the cushions with his few companions to train on the badminton court.

Lin enjoyed the sport, and spent almost 30 hours each week in training. He took part in the National Taekwondo Championships for College Students eight times, and won individual championship twice.

"I can't remember how many times I won. By the end of competition, the only thing you can remember is hurt and tireness," Lin said.

Lin chose to stay at campus after getting his PHD. "I hope my students can enjoy the sport. Even though I can't compete anymore, I hope to share my experiences with my students," Lin said.

Zhang Dehui, a junior at Shaanxi University of Science and Technology, had a similar experience, and took the systematic training ever since his enrollment.

Zhang became the campus champion in the men's team event in 2013, and he hoped to reap the individual crown this year.

"Taekwondo will not only strengthen your body, but also increase your willpower. And more, it teaches you to respect your rivals, to improve your ability of communication. It is the key reason why taekwondo grows so fast," Zhang said.

Su Changlai, the secretary-general of the University Taekwondo Association of China told Xinhua, in the 10 years of promotion in China's colleges, the competitiveness of taekwondo students is increasing rapidly.

During the 2015 Summer Universiade, Chinese taekwondo athletes won four golds, three silvers and three bronzes.

"Competition is not the final goal, but the better our athletes did, the faster taekwondo becomes popular in schools," Su said.

According to Su, hundreds of colleges have set up their taekwondo teams, and some even put taekwondo as elective course.

In the future, Su hoped to sum up more colleges to carry out research project, and invest more to support taekwondo in colleges. Endi