The Hangzhou Dianzi University has been training volunteers for the Asian Games Hangzhou 2022 with a virtual reality platform, local media reported on March 7.

"The VR platform was developed under the guidance of the Hangzhou Asian Games Organizing Committee and is integrated with our university's resources in computing, artificial intelligence, and foreign language education," said Wang Yi'an, vice-dean at the School of Foreign Languages and Literature and head of the development team.

Wang said that the platform can provide immersive scenarios for trainees and allow them to learn English.

Hangzhou Dianzi University will host the fencing competitions of the Asian Games. About 800 volunteers will be selected among the university's students.

Pan Yiwen, a freshman at the university, said that she is presently using the platform to improve her English proficiency.

"It is like a game with 20 checkpoints where you can communicate with 'players' of different nationalities and even pick up a sword to learn fencing rules in English," she said.

The platform went online last September and has been opened to the public for free. The most active users are students from the Zhejiang Chinese Medical University and the Zhejiang Wanli University.

Many friendly fencing matches were canceled due to sporadic COVID-19 outbreaks and the platform has presented an alternative for volunteers who missed offline trainings to gain experience, according to an official at the Hangzhou Asian Games Organizing Committee.