Oct. 2.
When there is so much of dis appointment in the course of events in China to-day it is fitting, to be thankful for such a conspicuous example of sound organisation, admirable enthusiasm'
ud beneficent concentration a3) the National 'Athletic Meeting. which has just come to an end at Nanking. "Here, the other d: the public were' shown what the authorities of Greater Shanghai) could achieve in the organisation:: of a national function. The smoothness of the celebration on the Double Tenth at Kiangwan was generally commented on by) hosts of highly impressed tors, Incidentally it should encourage confidence in the capacity of the Bureau of Public Si to grapple with the in terrorism which has again reared its ugly head in Nantao. But the National Athletic Meeting, whereto some 50,000 men ant! women athletes assembled in the magnificent new Stadium, demanded even higher and more] sustained qualities of energy ant organisation. Long before the opening on October 10, the New 'Stadium, completed in Septeraber, 1932, after two years' labour, had become a feature in the life of young Nanking. Its amenities had been unofficially used for various sporting and social activities. Designed by Kwan, an American-trained architect with experience gain-planning the large stadium at Mukden, this sports arena has all the latest improvements and differs from many in its complete comprehensiveness; so that every event of whatever kind can be decided within its precincts. In March of this year a representative committee under the chairmanship of Dr. C. T. Wang started to. make preparations.
Political leaders, university administrators, physical training experts and' busine: men were included in Dr. Wang's fearn which numbered 25. mem-all.
Special provision was made for the representation of women und this has been abundantly justified by the excellent performances put up by some of the women competitors.
Transporting competitors from all parts of China, the Committee tackled their job with enthusiasm land well-directed energy. The reports which have, peared in these columns have shown sufficiently the success achieved. Few athletic meetings of that size could be f entirely from "disputatious Nanking, unfortunately did not get off Scot free in that respect, but, for a first attempt, the organisers descry to be applauded on bringing the programme satisfactorily to a conclusion despite occasional jars, Notable were the achievements in swimming, sport in which Chinese pro" minence has not been specially marked hitherto. And appropriately Miss Yang Hsiuhing, rom Hongkong, the woman champion of the swimming events, was yesterday called
star upon to take the leading part in the—Nanking-Pukow Train Ferry on its useful career, A large number of Chinese records were broken.
That, of [course, does not indicate superlative effort in i elf. In view of the comparative newness of China's interest in matters athletic even the most ordinary progress would have to involve the supersession of records, It may, however, be noted that some of the timings and other measurements of sults compared most favourably with international records. For example, Liu Chang-chun's record of 22.1 secs. for the 200 metres is t disgraced beside the Olympic Record of 20.40 Secs, for the same distance. Miss Chien Hsin-ssu, Shanghai's heroine, won the 100 metres in 13.5 secs, as compared with the world's record of 11.9 secs, Her time in the 80 metres hurdles was 14.6 secs, as against the world's record for women of 11.7 secs. Lo Ching-lung's 800 metres was won in 2 ming, 5.2 secs.
against, the world's record of 1 in, 49.8 secs., and King Chun-kan's 34 47.4 secs. for the 10,000 metres' must be set beside the world's record of 80 mins, 6.2 secs, (Nurmi). These differences are, of course, marked, but they reflect no credit on the Nanking figures rather the reverse. Although, of course, western contests necessarily formed the bulk of the programme of the meeting, the organisers did not forget the value of preserving and developing the country's indigenous So the special stadium for Chinese "boxing was devised and the expert terest of Dr. Chu Min-inyoked to dra' up rules for bringing the sport within the frame york of modern competitive con ions. Whether these aims were fulfilled entirely cannot be Tt seems clear, howe that much enthusiasm was rated by displays of Chinese boxing with their close attention to rhythm and the scientific direction of bodily movement, It is only necessary to quote from the table of results to give an idea of the underlying im-Portance of this gathering, Naning bletes as a team met Canton's pi ked men as a team—the women followed suit.
Hunan, Anhui, Szechuen,—Chekiang, Peking. and even Hongkong cam into the picture. Among the m: new national records was t put up by Lin Chang-chun from Manchuria, Shanghai on to be proud of its" representatives' form. Coming as they do into more competitive contact with western athletes it is natural that Chinese Shanghailanders should make a good showing. Their chief setback war at the hands of Canton whose victory in the 400 metres relay race was well-deserved. Shang! came second to Nanking' bird and Peking's fo rth—a piquant result. on which political opponents might argue with the liveliness which was fortunately absent from the minds of these young athletes.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.