When Baseball Strengthens Sino-Cuban Friendship: An Outreach Event Organized by the Jianwai Property Management Department
2016-08-03

On May 14, 2016, thanks to the careful preparations made by the Jianwai Property Management Department, the baseball match between the Beijing Tigers Baseball Team and the Cuban Embassy was successfully held. 46 people attended this event, including Mr. Jesús Alberto Blanco Silva, Ambassador of Cuba to China, and members of the Cuban Embassy and their families.

Although it was a rainy day, nothing could have dampened the enthusiasm of those involved in the activity. Shortly after eight o'clock, the Ambassador came to Liujiaoting, the assembly point, where he had an animated conversation with the DRC staff and expressed his interest in the event. At 8:30, all the members of the Cuban Embassy gathered together and departed with the DRC staff via a bus for Daxing Lucheng Technical School of Sports.

The Beijing Tigers Baseball Team has 10 active members in the national team, of whom several players have even played in American Major League and Japanese professional teams. By participating in major competitions both in China and abroad in recent years, they have achieved remarkable results, won four national titles, and made outstanding contributions to baseball development in China. The success of the event should be attributed to the strong support given by the Lucheng Technical School of Sports and the Beijing Tigers Baseball Team.

Upon arrival, the team of friends from the Cuban Embassy were given a warm welcome by the coaches and players of the Beijing Tigers Baseball Team, and were briefed on the situation of the baseball team. After a short break, Mr. Jesús Alberto Blanco Silva, Ambassador of Cuba, gave a speech about the event. He stressed that baseball is the national sport in Cuba, where everyone, men and women alike, love this sport, and that he was particularly pleased with this friendly meeting with a brilliant professional baseball team, the Beijing Tigers. He also expressed his gratitude to the Property Management Department for organizing such activities, which will consolidate and deepen the friendship between the Chinese and Cuban peoples. The members of the Cuban Embassy said they particularly cherished this precious opportunity of exchanges, hoping that both sides could play a high quality match. Mr. Song Pingshan, Deputy Director of the Lucheng School, also delivered a short speech welcoming the friends of the Cuban Embassy on behalf of the baseball team and the Lucheng Technical School of Sports. He said that in the past, the Beijing Tigers Team had invited a Cuban coach, and that the achievements of this baseball team are inseparable from the support provided by Cuba, for which he expressed his gratitude. He also wished that the exchanges on that day with Cuba would forge a deeper friendship between the two sides.

After a brief opening ceremony, the Cuban team headed to the training room for athletes to do warm up exercises, and then entered the outdoor stadium, where the match with the Beijing Tigers started. The match sparked a wave of enthusiasm, with both sides manifesting discontent, applauding players and cheering for their own country’s players. Finally, the Beijing Tigers Baseball Team got a narrow victory over the Cuban team. Each team fully committed itself, but in critical times, the Beijing Tigers seized the opportunities to get ahead. Whatever the outcome of the match was, both teams had a lot of fun, and engaged themselves into a match in an exciting and enthusiastic atmosphere. After nearly two hours, the match ended,  and everyone had already started to look forward to having a second match next time.

In preparation for this activity, the Jianwai Department of Property Management did a great job. Let us hope that, the baseball match will help increase the friendship between the two countries and effectively meet the objectives of “Serving the foreign affairs cause, serving diplomatic missions, enhancing friendship, and showcasing our style”. At the same time, it also allowed us to maintain good relationship with our traditional Cuban clients, and bring even more members of the Cuban Embassy staff to reside in the DRC.