May 24, 2006 – Prince George could see an influx of Chinese university students this fall as part of a program to train Chinese athletes for the 2010 Winter Games.

City officials are ironing out details with a senior Chinese sports administrator.

“China is working on sending some Chinese athletes to the University of Northern B.C. so they can learn English and get some education around hockey and curling,” said city spokeswoman Virginia Sprangers.

“As well, they are looking at sending some of their top speed skaters to our university to study and work with our local short-track club. They hope to have something in place by September.”

Sprangers said Lan Li, deputy general director for China’s state sports general administration, visited Prince George at the end of March.

“We were able to showcase the community, university and civic facilities, based on hockey, curling, speed skating, biathlon, cross-country skiing,” she said.

“He wrote to us that he met with ‘the people concerned’ in China and he indicated there is really big room for us to co-operate in many areas.”

During his visit, Li invited Murray Kutyn, curling superintendent at the Prince George Golf and Curling Club, to Beijing to teach how to install curling ice.

“They were looking at putting on an ice-making seminar and working with their ice-makers to do an install,” said Kutyn yesterday. “They have a brand new curling facility and they don’t know how to work some of the ice-making equipment, like the scrapers.”

– Premier Gordon Campbell will lead a trade delegation to China later this year, Economic Development Minister Colin Hansen said yesterday.

Hansen, who is in Beijing, has signed an agreement that will see the co-ordination of at least two major trade delegations a year.

“The Olympic connection is very big for us and we have to play those cards while we have the opportunity to do that,” Hansen said. “We’re working today on a delegation that would be led by the premier and we’re in the last stages of locking down some dates later this year.”

Hansen is visiting China and Japan to promote B.C. business opportunities and the 2010 Winter Olympics.