Vice Secretary General of GAGOC Gu Shiyang (right) presents the Letter of Appointment to Mr. Patrick Furlong at GAGOC's office in Guangzhou on August 31. [GAGOC]

Australian Patrick Furlong was appointed as the first foreign consultant by the Guangzhou Asian Games Organizing Committee (GAGOC) on August 31 for the Games preparation.

Vice Secretary General of GAGOC Gu Shiyang presented the Letter of Appointment to Mr. Furlong at GAGOC's office in Guangzhou, China, the host city of the 16th Asian Games in 2010. He will work for the media services of radio and TV from August 1, 2007 to November 30, 2010.

Patrick Furlong, from Sydney, Australia, was the director of media services of radio and TV for the 15th Asian Games in Doha in 2006. He wrote the operation directory of media services for the event.

Patrick Furlong is dedicated to his job for GAGOC, with overtime work, serious paperwork and zealous discussions with his Chinese colleagues. He comes to Guangzhou once every two months and works in a separate office for no longer than five days each time.

Patrick enjoys his stays in the city and likes Chinese food very much, especially spicy Sichuan delicacies. The cities development and the Pearl River views also impress him a lot. He hopes that his joint efforts with GAGOC can make the Guangzhou Asian Games a big success.

(by Ronald Li, Alan Devey)