More than 1,200 teenagers registered for Chengdu Sports School’s public youth sports tryouts, which concluded with badminton testing after a month and a half of evaluations across five sports disciplines, ent.scol.com.cn reported.
The free, open-door recruitment drive moved away from traditional talent pipelines that relied heavily on school recommendations and self-registration in central urban areas, ent.scol.com.cn reported. The change aimed to address under-represented sporting talent and restricted pipelines in surrounding districts and counties.
Basketball testing drew nearly 500 participants, while traditional and rhythmic gymnastics attracted more than 400 athletes, ent.scol.com.cn reported. Parkour drew over 100 participants in its debut as a trial category, and badminton evaluations focused on younger age brackets.
Three months prior to the tryouts, the Chengdu Sports School secured 75 gold medals in the youth division at the 15th Provincial Games, a 70% increase in gold output compared to the previous edition, ent.scol.com.cn reported. The institution maintained provincial leads in traditional gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, and badminton, while logging gains in basketball and capturing every gold medal in winter sports.
Olympic champion Huang Zhangjiaying attended the gymnastics sessions to observe and coach prospective athletes, according to ent.scol.com.cn.
“We want to give every young athlete an equal chance to show their potential,” school officials said, as reported by ent.scol.com.cn.
Founded 51 years ago, the Chengdu Sports School has held designation as a national high-level sports reserve talent base across four consecutive Olympic cycles, ent.scol.com.cn reported. The institution has trained multiple Olympic and world champions, including Feng Zhe, Zou Jingyuan, and Huang Zhangjiaying.
The school currently maintains more than 40 in-training athletes dispatched upward to national and provincial teams, with over 100 individuals selected for provincial training squads, ent.scol.com.cn reported.
School administrators plan to establish the recruitment initiative as a permanent annual mechanism, with intentions to add more sports and broaden geographic reach in subsequent evaluation cycles, ent.scol.com.cn reported.
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