China is to train Sri Lankan athletes for international games after a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the two countries' Olympic committees at the sidelines of the 18th Asian Games this week.
“China has agreed to help train our athletes in selected sports, not only those which are part of the Summer Olympics, but also in sports which are in the Winter Games,” the president of Sri Lanka's National Olympic Committee, Suresh Subramaniam was quoted by the Sunday Observer as saying. “This is an unprecedented step of support from China. They will not only train our athletes but also coach our coaches.
"It is a broad and open-ended agreement and we can rely on their help for anything. We have their full backing,” he added.
His Chinese counterpart, Gou Zhongwen said, “we ask Sri Lanka to send their athletes to China and train with our athletes for a long period. We will also train coaches from Sri Lanka and help develop Sri Lanka sports."