FCBARCELONA.CAT

04.08.2007 16:46

Gala for the disabled

David Saura

FC Barcelona were the guest stars at a charity gala on Saturday evening in Beijing, where the club gave its full support to disabled people in China.

Beyond the sporting angle of the tour of the Far East, Barça showed that it is more than a club at the gala dinner in the Beijing International Conference Centre in the financial heartland of the city. Huge posters of the Blaugrana players adorned the walls as people entered the building.

Raising funds

Organised by the Chinese Disable Federation, the dinner aimed to raise funds for the 83 million people that are cared for by the federation. The money raised thanks to the sale of places at the gala and that money will go to schooling for young disabled people in the west of the country, where poverty means that most of them do not even receive a basic education.

Under the heading 'Wonderland', Barça was the main attraction at the event, that was shown on Phoenix TV. Club president, Joan Laporta, was accompanied by the rest of the board of directors as well as coach Frank Rijkaard, Xavi and Samuel Eto'o.

Important guests

There were numerous important local guests too, with the president of the Chinese National Assembly there as well as three heads of state for different regions of the country. There were also three ministers from different departments and the vice-president of the Biejing Olympic Games Committee and the president of the Paralympic Games. Deng Pufang, the head of the Chinese disabled association and son the famous Deng Xiaoming, was due to attend, but he was unable to make it because of ill health.

Eto'o’s ball games

The Barça players took part in games on the stage, which included keeping a ball in the air. The most touching moment when Eto'o was accompanied by a youngster without arms who showed his range of skills and the pair managed to keep the ball up for some time. After these displays of ability the dinner guests, many of them being important Chinese businessmen, made large donations to support the gala.

Barça auction

The club also presented different items of Barça memorabilia that were then auctioned off among the 450 guests that attended. There was a shirt that was signed by Thierry Henry, a Joan Miró poster celebrating the 75th anniversary of the club, a hair band signed by Ronaldinho, a pair of boots signed by Lionel Messi and a reproduction football that was the same as the one used in the first ever game at Camp Nou in 1957. There were also many items left over that were donated to an online auction to be held at a future date.

Musical acts

Famous Chinese artists then sang at the gala, like Liao Changyong, Wei Wei, Ping Gangshan, Luan Shu, Zhou Xiaoou, Lei Jia and Yao Beina with the collabroation of a number of disabled musicians. Between the auction and the on stage games and music, the evening turned out to be a real success.