HARBIN, Heilongjiang Province, July 3 (Xinhua) -- While the biggest football tournament in the world is going on in Russia, 13-year-old Wang Laizheng has his own unique road to the World Cup.
In the final of the National Youth Campus Football Contest held in Chengdu in May this year, Wang was selected as the best player of all the national primary school students present. He earned this by scoring a free kick in the final. He has represented China along with several other selected players in the 2018 Russia World Cup as a mascot accompanying the players onto the pitch. According to his coach Liu Yuming, there's much more to his story.
Wang studied at the Dahudian Central Primary School in the MeilisiDaur District of Qiqihar city. In the words of the person in charge of the school, it is a "completely rural school." In order to effectively manage students and cultivate a positive atmosphere in the school, football was introduced in the fall of 2013.
The prototype of a football school was initially established and it became clear that it was popular among the students.
Although the school fully supports the development of campus football, facilities at rural schools are limited and children often had to make do by playing on sandstone surfaces. In 2015, Liu came to the school. He was deeply moved by the students' love for football. He saw the rural children were not afraid of being tired, even bleeding and hurting after playing the beautiful game.
For the children to get better training facilities, on the weekends and holidays, the coach took the children to his home in the Qiqihar city to eat and live, buying training clothes and finding turf fields. All out of his own pocket.
"My wife is also a physical education teacher. She cares even more about these children than I do. My house is like students' house," Liu said.
Wang started to flourish and he improved at an incredible rate in just three years. In 2015 Wang Laizheng represented Qiqihar in the Heilongjiang Provincial Finals and won the championship and in February 2017 he placed first in the Sino-Russian campus snow football competition.
In the first half of the National Youth Campus Football Contest final held in Chengdu this year, Wang did not get the chance to play. At halftime, Liu eagerly said to the team coach: "Let Wang have a try please. It's a golden opportunity for a rural boy."
Wang scored a free kick, which earned him a ticket to become a World Cup mascot. "It is really very emotional that the campus football development can push a rural child to the World Cup stage. I hope that Wang is going further on the football road and flying higher. I will see you on the green field of the World Cup in the future," Liu said.
