The Asian Rowing Federation reached a partnership deal with the World Wildlife Fund in Shanghai recently, with the two sides joining hands to promote the sport of rowing and call for better water environment protection.

“This is a combination of different resources,” said Wang Shi, ARF president and chairman of China Vanke Co Ltd.

“Asian countries like Japan and Singapore have been doing well in water environment protection. ARF provides a platform for communication, and we can use WWF’s strength to help China and other Asian countries to learn from these pioneer countries.”

According to Wang, 35 countries in Asia have rowing federations, and a series of water environment protection promotions will be held when ARF stages rowing competitions or related activities in the member countries.

The WWF will get involved in the construction of rowing competition sites in Asia, supervise the water condition, and collect data for its future plan to draft an environment friendly standard for sports activities.

Wang picked up rowing nine years ago. As a visiting scholar of Cambridge University, he launched a rowing club with Chinese entrepreneurs there.

“China’s market is ready for rowing, an environment-friendly sport that emphasizes team spirit. There is a world renowned rowing competition between Cambridge and Oxford, while China’s Tsinghua University and Beijing University also held rowing contests before,” Wang said.

“This is a cooperation between a sports organization, WWF and an enterprise. I and my firm benefited from the country’s industrial transformation, and taking part in environmental protection and promoting sports, like rowing, is my way of paying back.”

Original title by Shanghai Daily: ARF, WWF join hands to boost sport