Cai Jiadong, director of Zijian Center, said that the competitive level of fencing in China has already entered the first-class in the world, but the attention in China is far less than that of mass sports such as foot, basketball, table tennis and badminton. Compared with traditional competitive events in China, such as diving and gymnastics, there is a big gap in public awareness. According to statistics, including young athletes in amateur sports schools, there are only three or four thousand fencers in China, while the fencing population in many countries in Europe and America is over one million.
Cai Jiadong said that the opportunity has come to change the unpopular status of fencing in China. He introduced that fencing is a relatively easy sport to develop first. "It doesn't require high physical quality and physical fitness of the participants, and there is no intense physical confrontation. Due to the perfect protective measures, the risk of injury to participants is small. Fencing is still a sport in which wits are better than bravery. In addition, it has a long history and rich connotations, which should be very attractive to the masses. "
With the progress of our national income and the completion of the localization of fencing equipment, fencing is not as expensive as before for ordinary people.
In the past, fencing equipment was completely imported, and it cost more than 100 dollars to buy a sword. Now the domestic sword only costs about 50 yuan. A complete set of fencing equipment used to cost more than 654.38 million yuan, but now the domestic equipment only costs one or two thousand yuan. Cai Jiadong said that this price is completely acceptable for most urban residents in China.
In recent years, fencing clubs for the public have appeared in cities such as Beijing, and the fencing club to be established by Zijian Center will be the first national amateur fencing training institution. Cai Jiadong said that after the establishment of the club, famous swordsmen such as Zhong Man and Tan Xue, as well as famous coaches such as Wang Haibin, will often meet the students of amateur clubs, and their influence will further promote the development of fencing in China.
In addition to taking the initiative to go to ordinary people, Zijian Center also plans to cooperate with the education department to let fencing enter universities and primary and secondary schools. At present, Tsinghua University, shanghai finance university and other universities have set up fencing courses, which are very popular among college students. "As long as you have a strong mass base, a sport has the motivation for sustainable development."