Chinese taekwondo athlete Luo Zongshi has established herself as a dominant force in the women's 57kg division, and with her place at the 2024 Paris Olympics already secured, the 25-year-old has set her sights squarely on winning the gold medal.
Luo's impressive resume includes titles at the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games, 2022 Guadalajara World Championships, and 2022 Chuncheon Asian Championships.
Two years ago, the athlete from Beihai City in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region began competing in more international events to earn crucial Olympic qualification points. Her efforts paid off as she went on to claim silver at the Austrian Open and gold at the World Taekwondo Grand Prix in Rome.
Maintaining her form at prestigious Grand Prix tournaments and World Championships over the past 24 months has propelled Luo to the top of the qualification standings, giving her a commanding 200-point lead over Türkiye's Hatice Ilgun.
Luo is seen as the leader of China's new generation of taekwondo athletes, following the retirements of Wu Jingyu and Zheng Shuyin.
Luo's ambitions for the upcoming Olympics leave no room for doubt. "My goal for Paris 2024 is to top the podium. As for my expectations, I hope all of our athletes in the national team will get good results. In the Tokyo Olympic cycle, I was still learning and gaining experiences, but in this Olympic cycle, I think I'm moving toward my goal at full speed," said Luo.
The Paris Olympic Games are scheduled to take place from July 26 to August 11, with the Paralympic Games from Aug 28 to Sept 8.
Chinese taekwondo competitor gears up for Paris Olympics gold
A Chinese envoy on Friday called on the international community to provide timely, targeted, and constructive assistance to support Central African countries in pursuing a development path tailored to their own national conditions.
At a meeting on the Central African issue held by the UN Security Council, China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations Geng Shuang said that China hopes that political factions in the countries concerned will step up dialogue and consultation, bridge differences, consolidate consensus, and steadily advance the political process.
The Chinese side also noted that though the security situation in Central Africa has eased somewhat, security challenges, including the persistent and grave threat from terrorism, the ongoing threat to regional security by terrorist groups such as Boko Haram, and the emerging spillover of the conflict in Sudan, the prominent problem of weapons diversion, and increasing conflicts over resources are all difficult to be effectively addressed by any single country alone, Geng stressed.
China supports Central African countries to strengthen the concept of a community of common security, deepen coordination on security affairs, enhance security mechanisms, and foster synergy to safeguard regional security, Geng said.
The international community should keep up its investment in security in Central Africa and support the countries in the region in jointly buttressing their security defense, he noted.
"We need to help countries in the region achieve development. For historical and practical reasons, Central African countries are still confronted with prominent development challenges. Expeditiously embarking on the fast track of development is not only an urgent task common to countries in the region, but also the key to breaking the vicious cycle of poverty leading to chaos, which in turn perpetuates poverty. The international community should step up its response to humanitarian appeals for Central Africa while strengthening assistance for the economic development and livelihood in these countries," said Geng.
At the 2024 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation held in September in Beijing this year, China put forward 10 partnership actions in support of Africa's development such as granting zero-tariff treatment to 100 percent of tariff items of products from all least-developed countries that have established diplomatic relations with China, including 33 African countries.
The moves will greatly benefit Central African countries, injecting strong impetus into the region's development, Geng noted.
China calls on int'l community to help Central African countries achieve development
