ZAGREB, Sept 15, 2020 - A video conference was held at the Croatian Olympic Committee (HOO) on Tuesday reaffirming that Croatia and China continue to cooperate in sports, notably between the Croatian Table Tennis Federation and the Chinese Embassy in Croatia.
The cooperation, established in 2018, includes sponsorship and exchanges of the coaching staff, which is very important for Croatian table tennis because it has the world's biggest table tennis power as its partner, the HOO said.
Speaking via video link, Chinese Ambassador Xu Erwen recalled Croatia's recent sports successes, adding that Croatia and China did not cooperate only in table tennis, but also in water polo, handball, and gymnastics.
What has always impressed us and what many of my compatriots ask me is that they do not understand how a country of just four million people can achieve such excellent results globally in practically all sports, the ambassador said.
HOO President Zlatko Matesa spoke of handball cooperation. He said that a Chinese team had for the first time participated in the last season of the regional SEHA League.
"They practiced and were accommodated in Croatia, they played games here and were led by a Croatian coaching team. That is a unique example in the world that a Chinese team played in an official competition in Europe, and the link was Croatia," he said.
Matesa also mentioned the excellent cooperation between the Zagreb Faculty of Kinesiology and the Beijing University of Sport. He said that Croatia and China also cooperated in many other areas, citing the construction of the Peljesac Bridge.
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