THE selection of 220 guides for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Shenzhen Universiade has started at the universities in 15 cities.

    Female students who are more than 1.68 meters tall are invited to join the selection process.

    Named the “most beautiful guide” at the Guangzhou Asian Games ceremonies, Liang Sijie, a junior student at the journalism and film school at Hunan University, was invited to share her experience as a guide at Friday’s selection launch ceremony at Shenzhen University (SZU).

   “Persistence is the most important quality for a ceremony guide,” said Liang.

   “Every day we practiced holding a delegation nameplate that weighed over 3.5 kilograms. It was extremely hard for us girls to hold the nameplate horizontally for more than 10 minutes to direct athletes to the opening ceremony of the Asian Games,” Liang said.

    She said she would probably work for the Universiade in Shenzhen.

    The 220 guides will receive indoor training in July, according to the Games organizing committee.

    However, fewer than 30 students at Shenzhen University registered for selection Saturday and only half made it onto the shortlist.

    The university said more than 10,000 students had been selected as volunteers for the Games, so they could not apply for a new role.

    Despite the small numbers, candidates from SZU were of good quality, said Yang Jingyi, a judge for Saturday’s selection.

    Yang was the chief protocol coach for the Shanghai Expo last year.
“I hope to get a chance to wear the guide costume I helped design for the opening ceremony of the Universiade,” said Huang Qiurong, a student from the costume design department at SZU, during Saturday’s selection.

    Huang said she and her teachers had been involved in designing the costumes for Universiade guides.