Ningbo to hold second ultimate tournament in April
Tuesday, 9th March 2010 ~ Chris ~ Link ~ Comments (5)
by Dan Siekman
The second annual Ningbo Hat ultimate tournament will be held on the weekend of April 3-4 at the University of Nottingham Ningbo.
Ultimate, aka ultimate Frisbee, is a fast-paced and limited-contact sport that came out of the US in the 1970s and is growing in popularity worldwide. Only requiring a flying disc and an open field, the sport is beginning to take a hold in new parts of China.
Ningbo is one of three Chinese cities with two year old tournaments, the others being Kunming and Shenzhen. In China's more international cities of Shanghai, Hong Kong, Beijing and Tianjin, some ultimate clubs have been in existence since the late 1990s.
"Frisbee" is the original brand name of the plastic flying disc that is thrown between players in the sport. Most players now use discs that are manufactured by its competitor Discraft and in an attempt to cleanse their sport's name of the trademarked Frisbee name, they have taken to calling their sport "ultimate" and saying "disc" instead of Frisbee.
The object of the sport is to move the disc downfield by passing from teammate to teammate. The player in possession of the disc must pass within a ten-count. While in possession of the disc, the player cannot walk but is allowed to pivot on one foot. A point is scored when a player catches a pass in his/her opponent's end zone.
The word "hat" refers to a style of tournament in which players enter as individuals rather than teams and rank their own ability levels. Organizers then attempt to create a set of equally matched mixed gender teams that vie for the championship.
The term derives from formulating teams by choosing players' names at random out of a hat.
As is traditional for ultimate tournaments, the Ningbo tournament will have a themed party on Saturday night, with plenty of complimentary beer included in the tournament registration fee: the theme this year is "Star Wars." Players of both sexes and all ability levels are welcome to join.
For more information email: liyanguan (dot) forrest ( a t ) gmail (dot) com.
Image: Ningbo Ultimate
Tags: Beijing, Hong Kong, Ningbo, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Tianjin, ultimate, ultimate frisbee
Ultimate frisbee tournament to return to Kunming
Wednesday, 27th January 2010 ~ Chris ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
By Dan Siekman at GoKunming
The second annual Kunming Hat ultimate frisbee tournament will be held on the weekend of March 6 and 7. Last year's tournament drew more than 80 players from around Kunming, China, and the world for a weekend of playing disc and having fun.
This year the Kunming Ultimate Frisbee Club will host a bigger and better event at new fields near Huangtupo (黄土坡).
In ultimate frisbee parlance, a hat tournament means that competitors enter as individuals rather than teams. When competitors sign up, they rank their abilities according to a number of criteria, helping organizers to create several mixed gender teams of similar ability for two days of tournament competition.
The organizers encourage any ultimate players or anybody who would like to learn the sport to come to Kunming for the tournament and for the Friday and Saturday night parties that are the usual accompaniment of ultimate tournaments.
More information about schedule, registration fee, accommodation, and parties can be found at the Kunming Ultimate website.
More information about the sport of ultimate frisbee can be found at whatisultimate.com or the Ultimate Players Association
Tags: Kunming, Kunming Hat, ultimate frisbee
ATP Champions tour to bring tennis greats to Chengdu
Tuesday, 3rd November 2009 ~ Chris ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
The tournament will be held November 5-8 at the 6,700-seat Sichuan Tennis Centre.
Former top world tennis players competing in the Chengdu Open include John McEnroe, Björn Borg, Michael Chang, Pat Cash (added after Mats Wilander pulled out due to injury), Goran Ivanisevic, Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Sergi Bruguera and Thomas Enqvist.
The round-robin tournament will feature eight players divided into two groups, with the winners of each group meeting in the final.
A revival of the McEnroe-Borg rivalry is undoubtedly the most anticipated match prior to the final – the two have played each other in some of the greatest Grand Slam finals ever. The two will play each other once again on Saturday night.
In addition to the competition, the visiting tennis legends will run clinics with local children, with the goal of encouraging China's youth to take up the sport.
For ticket information (plus online ordering) and a match schedule, visit the tournament's official website.
This story was cross-posted on GoChengdoo, our sister site in Chengdu.
Tags: Björn Borg, Chengdu, Goran Ivanisevic, John McEnroe, Michael Chang, Pat Cash, Sergi Bruguera, tennis, Thomas Enqvist, Yevgeny Kafelnikov
World's largest recreational bicycle race to stop in Yunnan next month
Tuesday, 18th August 2009 ~ Chris ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
After two years in Jilin province's Changbai mountain, the Vätternrundan recreational bicycle race will be held in the small city of Yuxi in Yunnan province next month.
Vätternrundan China will start in downtown Yuxi – 90 kilometers south of Kunming – from where it will head toward Fuxian Lake. The race will circle Fuxian Lake and then return to Yuxi for a total of 175.5 kilometers.
Vätternrundan started in Sweden as a recreational ride around Lake Vättern in 1965 and has since become the largest recreational bicycle race in the world. It is brought to China by sporting event company Nordic Ways.
As it is not a competitive race, there is no official ranking of race finishers according to time. The ride, known in Swedish as a motionslopp "recreational ride", does keep official times of all riders. Results are posted in no particular order afterward.
Until recently, the ride around Fuxian Lake was difficult to complete due to poor road surface on the eastern portion of the loop. The completion of the road combined with next month's Vätternrundan are likely to raise Fuxian Lake's profile as an international sporting event destination ideal for cycling races as well as marathons and triathlons.
For more information on registering for the upcoming Vätternrundan China, check out the race's registration page. For other information about the race, contact Ellinor Axner Yin at ellinor.axner[at]nordicways[dot]com or call (010) 5203 6968 extension 121.
Fuxian Lake image: nordicways.com
Tags: bicycling, cycling, Fuxian Lake, Kunming, Nordic Ways, Vätternrundan, Yunnan, Yuxi
Zheng makes victorious return to Wimbledon, Li also advances
Wednesday, 24th June 2009 ~ Chris ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
China's top female tennis player Zheng Jie (郑洁) returned victoriously to Wimbledon on Monday one year after she made a name for herself by reaching the tournament's semifinal round.
Zheng, currently ranked number 15 in the world, beat Kristina Barrois of Germany 7-6 (2), 7-6 (4) at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in London on Monday in what was a high-pressure return for the Chengdu native.
"Indeed, there is a big change for me in one year and I do feel more pressure coming back here," Zheng recently told the China Daily. "A lot of people hope I make the semi-finals again or go even better."
Zheng has been a Wimbledon champion before – in 2006 she and doubles partner Yan Zi won the women's doubles competition.
The diminutive Zheng still has far to go to equal her standout performance last year – her next step is to face Slovakia's Daniela Hantuchova in the second round today.
This year's tournament is the first to feature two Chinese seeds in the singles draw – Zheng is joined by Li Na (李娜), who is ranked number 19 in the world. Li has also advanced to the second round after beating Kazakhstan's Galina Voskoboev on Tuesday.
Zheng Jie image: Women's Tennis Blog
Tags: Li Na, tennis, Wimbledon, Zheng Jie
Interview: Mountain biking from Australia to Denmark for climate change
Thursday, 30th April 2009 ~ Chris ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
Australian Kim Nguyen began cycling toward Copenhagen from Brisbane on August 10 of last year to raise awareness of the effects of global warming and to bring attention to the UN climate change negotiations that will begin in Copenhagen on December 9 of this year – the day Nguyen plans on arriving in the city. Nguyen has been riding around Yunnan with Kunming as his base over the last few weeks and is preparing to head north.
Nguyen has already cycled more than 7,000 of the 25,000 kilometers he plans on logging during his travels – riding through deserts, volcanoes and rainforests. He is keeping a blog about his journey at www.rideplanetearth.org, which for some reason is blocked in China. China Sports Today chatted with him about life on the road and what made him decide to spend 16 months riding toward a conference in Denmark.
China Sports Today: When and why did you decide to make the ride from Australia to Denmark?
Kim Nguyen:I decided to make the journey early in 2008, I had heard about the Copenhagen conference and wanted to get there in an environmentally friendly way. The conference is the forum for the most important climate change negotiations in over a decade. In Copenhagen this December the international community will decide on what protocol will follow Kyoto. It is of the utmost importance that the world's governments decide not only on a reduction to a safe level of greenhouse gas emissions but also how to do it. I wanted to get there to help convince the government delegates to take action.
CST: What has been the most rewarding aspect of your travels?
KN: In travelling by bicycle across Australia, Asia, the Middle East and Europe I decided to collect messages from the people I would meet to take with me to Copenhagen to help convince the governments to take action. As such I have met many, many wonderful people with nothing but enthusiasm and support for my journey. I've met many really incredible people during my stay in Kunming and their support has given me the lift I needed to push north onto Mongolia.
The most rewarding things have been when I have been struggling through inhospitable or desolate regions and local people, usually farmers, have taken me in overnight, and given me a warm bed and a friendly smile. Also, it has just been seeing and experiencing so many amazing parts of our beautiful planet. But I am afraid that if we as individuals and our society as a whole cannot make the necessary changes then many of these beautiful places will be lost or irrevocably changed.
CST: What are the biggest challenges you've encountered so far?
KN: The challenges have been many, I have suffered several episodes of heat exhaustion, resulting in two hospital admissions, once in Australia, the other in East Timor. In east Timor I collapsed while cycling and managed to fall face first onto the road, requiring several stitches to patch myself up.
Other challenges include the frequent changes in language and cultures I have had to adapt to, broken bicycle parts, extremes of weather and the battering my body has endured cycling up and down mountains for months on end.
CST: What unexpected surprises have you experienced in your travels?
KN: There's always something surprising, usually some aspect of the local place and culture I had no idea existed. Near Shangri-la I was cycling and found some farmers ploughing their fields with yaks, which was new but to be expected. What was unexpected was that they all used small children to pull the yaks. So ploughing the fields was a family affair.
I was surprised by the amount of tourists swarming over Southeast Asia, in that way coming to China has been a bit more peaceful. But I guess most importantly and sadly I have found that climate change is already hitting many poor farmers in Asia pretty hard. Droughts are unpredictable, rain patterns have settled in and food production has reduced. It's pretty scary.
CST: What are your impressions of Kunming and Yunnan from a cyclist's perspective?
KN: Yunnan is a traveler's dream as far as I'm concerned - so many beautiful mountains and varied landscapes. I could cycle around Yunnan for months and still find something new. The people are as changing as the mountains, the headdress and clothing change every couple of hundred kilometers and so there is always a new culture to find out about.
When I first arrived in Kunming it was a struggle cycling from south to north through the city. I got lost, it was pretty crowded and seemed pretty enormous. But after a few days I found cycling around to be pleasant and easy. Once you get used to the unpredictability of the traffic you can fit right in. And it's great to see so many people on bikes and electric scooters.
Hopefully many of the cyclists join the rides I am organizing on the sixth of December this year as part of the Ride Planet Earth project. This is a chance for people to get out on their bikes, traveling in an environmentally friendly way, and demonstrate the willingness and capacity of ordinary people to take action on climate change. Rides are happening all over the world on this day, the day before the start of the climate change negotiations in Denmark.
In Yunnan there are rides happening in Kunming and Dali so far but we hope there will be even more. People should visit www.rideplanetearth.org, or the facebook group The Ride Planet Earth Challenge to find out the locations of the rides. They can contact me via either website if they'd like to set up another ride somewhere else in Yunnan.
CST: Where are you headed next?
KN: So next I'm heading up into Sichuan and eventually into Mongolia. I have to speed up cause I only have 7 months to get to Copenhagen. Wish me luck!
Tags: Australia, Copenhagen, cycling, Denmark, environment, Kim Nguyen, outdoor sports
McEnroe, Borg, other tennis greats to play Chengdu Open
Thursday, 30th April 2009 ~ Chris ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
The Chengdu Open will be held November 5-8 at the 6,700-seat Sichuan Tennis Centre and will feature eight players divided into two groups for round-robin play. The winners of each group will play in the final.
McEnroe, Borg, Chang, Wilander and Rios have won a combined total of 26 Grand Slam singles titles. When they were at the top of their game, tennis was virtually nonexistent in China, but today China is increasingly considered a rising tennis power.
"I am extremely excited to be making my first trip to China in a very long time; this is a country that is fast becoming a major player in world tennis," the 50-year-old McEnroe said.
Borg, who retired from tennis at the age of 26 in 1983, said he was looking forward to playing in the same field as McEnroe, against whom he played several legendary matches.
Participants in the Chengdu Open will hold clinics with local youth to develop tennis at the grassroots level, organizers said.
The Chengdu Open is coorganized by the Chinese Tennis Association, Sichuan Sports Bureau, Chengdu Sports Bureau, Chengdu Sports Industry Co and CCTV IMG Sports Management Company. The website chengduchampions.com has been launched to provide updates and news in the runup to the tournament in November.
This story has been cross-posted on GoChengdoo, our sister site in Chengdu
John McEnroe image: USA Today
Tags: ATP Champions Tour, Björn Borg, Chengdu, Chengdu Open, John McEnroe, Marcelo Rios, Mats Wilander, Michael Chang, tennis
Sheffield United, Chengdu Blades cosponsoring Hong Kong FA Cup
Monday, 27th April 2009 ~ Chris ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
Chengdu Blades chairman Tony Xu was in London last week to join Kevin McCabe, chairman of the Blades' parent club Sheffield United to announce a sponsorship deal for the 2008/9 Hong Kong FA Cup, which will now be known as the 'Sheffield United FA Cup'.
The Blades' reserve team - playing in Hong Kong under the name of Sheffield United Hong Kong - will face Sham Shui Po in the tournament's opening fixture on May 12. The Cup's final will be held at Hong Kong Stadium on May 31.
"It is a great honour for Sheffield United and Chengdu Blades to be invited to sponsor the Hong Kong FA Cup," Sheffield United's McCabe told reporters. "It demonstrates our commitment to supporting the growth of football in China and Hong Kong, whilst we continue to make the 'Blades' a global football proposition."
Sheffield United became the first foreign owners of a Chinese football club when it purchased the Chengdu Blades in January 2006.
The Hong Kong FA Cup was first held in 1975, when it was known as the Golden Jubilee Cup. The current cupholders are Citizen, who beat Woofoo Tai Po 2:0 in the HKFA Cup final, which raised funds for the Wenchuan earthquake, which had taken place six days earlier.
Tags: Chengdu, Chengdu Blades, football, Hong Kong, Kevin McCabe, London, Sheffield United, Sheffield United Hong Kong, soccer, sports, Tony Xu, Wenchuan earthquake
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