China Sports Today

Around the Web: A basketball MVP, a tennis upset, and an unpopular proposal for soccer

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 03:15:00 +0800

Mengke Bateer who, unbeknownst to many a casual fan, was the first Chinese player to win an NBA championship, was selected as this season's MVP for the Chinese Basketball Association. The big guy averaged 13.8 points, 9.6 rebounds, 4 assists and 1.2 blocks per game. It looks to me like this is a chance to honor one of China's most historically important players who will probably retire soon (Bateer is 35) than it does like a recognition of a stellar 2009-10 season. Bateer's Xinjiang Guanghui are in second place in league standings, with league playoffs starting next Wednesday. All-Star Weekend is March 20-21 at Wukesong Arena in Beijing.

China's Zheng Jie (seeded 18th) beat Maria Sharapova (seeded 10th) at the BNP Paribas Open, 6-2, 2-6, 6-3. Sharapova was battling injuries in the match at Indian Wells.

Wei Di, the new chief of the Chinese Football Association, has introduced the apparently unpopular idea of entering China's under-21 national team as the 17th side in the Chinese Soccer League, to give those young players more time playing together. He hopes the plan will help him reach his self-imposed goal of qualifying a team for the FIFA World Cup in 2014, without dismantling the centrally planned football development system. The CSL begins play next week.

Gold medal-winning speed skater Zhou Yang angered some sports officials when she thanked her real mother and not Mother China (Reuters). David Yang at China Sports Review argues that the state has a point.

Liu Xiang 7th at World Indoors

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 22:04:00 +0800

Liu Xiang (刘翔) and his coach Sun Haiping are putting a positive spin on the once world champion hurdler's seventh-place performance at World Indoor Championships in Doha, Qatar, over the weekend. Liu clocked a time of 7.65 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles, in his first major international competition since he limped off the track at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

Liu had set a goal of making the finals at Doha, which he accomplished, and Sun said the competition had not done any further damage to his runner's surgically repaired Achilles tendon.

Liu now has about a year and a half to prepare for the next IAAF World Championships in Athletics, scheduled to begin August 27, 2011 in Daegu, Korea. Before that, he will no doubt be expected to bring home a gold medal for China at the Asian Games in Guangzhou this coming November.

Related:
Video report from CCTV
Robles edges Trammell for 60 hurdles title (Reuters)

Liu Xiang image: cfj88.cn

Ningbo to hold second ultimate tournament in April

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 12:15:00 +0800

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

Around the Web: Leader calls Chinese kids unfit, Liu Xiang stumbles, underage gymnasts

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 11:05:00 +0800

Sports leader: Chinese kids need to shape up

Chinese children need to get in better shape, with nothing less than national security at stake. So said Beijing Sports University president Yang Huan, addressing the annual all-government meeting, the Chinese People's Political Consultative Congress, which recently got underway in Beijng. In an effort to funnel more funds to youth sports and fitness, Yang raised concern that China's young people lag behind other nations'. He pointed out one rival in particular: "If there was another war against Japan, would the younger Chinese be able to fight the Japanese one-on-one?" (Reuters: Chinese youth accused of not being fit

Liu Xiang a star attraction at political meet, not so hot at track meet

Several athletes serve on the CPPCC, which lasts about another week. Among them is hurdler Liu Xiang. Liu missed last year's meeting because he was in the United States rehabilitating from foot surgery. After a promising return to action last fall, where he lost in a photo finish at the Shanghai Golden Grand Prix, Liu's comeback seems to be stumbling a bit. He came in fourth at a recent 60-meter hurdle race in Shanghai against all Chinese runners. The former world record holder insists that he just slowed down at the end to protect his foot for the upcoming world championships in Doha, Qatar, starting March 12. But this quote from a China Daily story doesn't sound promising: "If I want to push myself, I can surely do it, but it makes me feel uncomfortable in the foot."

The world will soon find out just what condition he is in, as he joins his first major international competition since pulling out of the Olympics due to injury. Also going to Qatar are the USA's Terrence Trammell and Dayron Robles of Cuba, the current world record holder and the man Liu has said he expects to win in Doha.

To see the awkward, disappointing way in which local media cover Liu at the CPPCC, cue this China Daily video

Chinese gymnast age fraud: Throwback edition

Age fraud hit China's gymnastics program again last week, but this time it focused on Dong Fangxiao, who won a bronze medal in the team event at the Sydney Games in 2000. The International Gymnastics Federation has recommended that the International Olympic Committee take back her medal (Reuters, saying they believe she was not 16 years old at the time. The Chinese Gymnastics Association said it intends to appeal, and that there is "insufficient evidence that Dong Fangxiao has age problems when participating in competition in 1999 and 2000."

Vancouver 2010 Final Medal Table

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 08:50:00 +0800

View the vancouver2010.com medals' table

Sport-by-sport breakdown of China's 2010 Winter Olympics performance

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 18:58:00 +0800

China finished the 2010 Winter Olympics with a total of 11 medals, the same overall tally it reached in Turin, but with more gold medals (5 compared to 2). That leaves China in 8th place if you count by combined medals, 6th if you measure in golds. In the previous seven Winter Olympics, China had only won 4 gold medals altogether (China in the Winter Olympics: Facts and figures. China's winter sports officials are congratulating themselves and looking toward the future, reports Reuters. Below is a sport-by-sport breakdown of China's performance in the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.

Pairs figure skating: 1 gold, 1 silver

The highlight of these games for China came right at the beginning, when Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo ended the Russian domination of pairs figure skating, and their own 20-year hunt for Olympic gold. The married couple won on Valentine's Day, which was also the first day of this year's Lunar New Year. Tong Jian and Pang Qing won silver, and another Chinese pair came in fourth, a good indication for China's future in this sport.

Skating: Short track 4 golds, speed skating 1 bronze

China's female short track speed skaters made an unprecedented sweep, taking all four gold medals. Wang Meng followed up her 500-meter gold medal with a win in the 1,000-meter event, and skated on the gold medal-winning 3,000-meter relay winning team. With four golds, a silver and a bronze over her career, Wang is China's most decorated winter Olympian. The 3,000-meter gold came at the expense of a disqualification of the South Korean women, on a close judgment call that went in China's favor (China's team: Wang Meng, Zhou Yang, Sun Linlin and Zhang Hui). China's top two skaters—Wang and Zhou—were both disqualified in the semifinals of events that the other eventually won gold in. Zhou won the 1,500-meter event. In speed skating (not short track), Wang Beixin won a bronze.

Skiing aerials: 1 silver, 2 bronzes

Another event China had several hopes in was skiing aerials, and going into the women's final, all seemed to be going perfectly, with four Chinese skiers making the cut. But Australia's Lydia Lassila won out over the field, leaving Li Nina with silver and Guo Xinxin with bronze. The men's team was strong as well, but only Liu Zhongqing managed to medal (a bronze), while two others came in 6th and 7th.

Curling: Bronze medal

China's hopes for its world champion women's curling team to win gold came up short, ending in a bronze. China's curlers—Wang Bingyu, Liu Yin, Yue Qingshuang, Zhou Yan, and Liu Jinli—have an average of 25, much younger than any of the rest of the world's elite, so Chinese curling is sure to be a force in Sochi.

Catching up: China wins USA Sevens in Las Vegas

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 15:25:00 +0800

With rugby sevens debuting at the 2016 Olympics in Rio, the sport is of course getting a little more attention (aka investment) from the Chinese sports administration. The women's team—created from a pool of about 100 women who play the sport nationwide, mostly pulled from track, soccer or basketball programs—has been steadily improving over the past few years. Last week, they beat the USA women to win the Women's Invitational International in Las Vegas. It's a good sign for the Chinese team but don't get too excited—the Chinese women have been full-on professionals for at least a few years, whereas the American women's team is essentially still being formed in the wake of sevens' Olympic inclusion. USASevens.com

Catching up: Chinese soccer scandal saga

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 14:34:00 +0800

There is a LOT more going on in the Chinese sports world than ever makes it onto this Web site. With that in mind, today I'm posting about some interesting recent developments that I've neglected. Here goes.

China's domestic soccer and basketball leagues are notoriously corrupt. Match-fixing is just one symptom of a system that's completely broken. In January, officials launched a purge of the national soccer league and national team. Among the more incredible developments was the revelation that players had actually bribed their way into national team tryouts. I apologize for not having brought you more updates on this crazy story. Here is a link to a Global Times editorial by Beijing native David Yang on the toxic effect that corruption has on sports.

The dragnet has already netted more than 100 players, coaches and officials (including the sport's top official), and spawned some shocking anecdotes (though probably not so shocking to anyone who closely follows the league). Earlier this week, the Chinese Football Association disqualified Qingdao Hailifeng for trying to score on itself to fatten the team president's gambling wins. You have to read it to believe it, but basically it looks like this: With his team up 3-0, team president Du realizes one more goal for either team will increase his winnings on an international betting Web site. He puts a call in to coach Du, who sends a text message to a player on the field, who rallies the support of two teammates. They try, but fail, to score on their own goal (diagram from a Chinese newspaper, with translations, from Danwei).

I remember when I first arrived in China, and my friends here would gripe: "1.3 billion people and we can't find 11 to field a decent football team." The reason why has only become more evident the longer I am here. And it's well known that the problem isn't isolated to soccer. In an editorial cartoon in a recent issue of Titan Sports News, a figure representing Chinese Basketball hid behind one representing Chinese Soccer. He wore a grin and the bubble above his head read: "They can't see me here behind Soccer."

It's much too early to tell if efforts to clean up the sport will actually bring the payola to a halt and improve the now atrocious level of play, but a couple of good pieces of news must give some hope to China's frustrated fans. China won the East Asian Football Championship about two weeks ago (2-0 over Hong Kong, 0-0 tie with Japan, 3-0 win over South Korea); and Beijing Guo'an, reigning CFA champs and one of few domestic sports teams with a passionate fan base, beat Melbourne Victory 1-0 in a match at the Workers' Stadium just a few days ago.

China-Korea soccer/football image: QQ.com

China's fifth medal, first controversy: Zhou Yang, short track speedskating

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 12:47:00 +0800

Zhou Yang won China's fifth medal and third gold Sunday, in women's 1,500-meter short track speedskating, after her countrywoman and 500-meter gold medalist Wang Meng was disqualified for taking out two opponents in the semifinal.

Going into the race's final turn, Wang lost her second place position to the United States' Katherine Reutter, and then caused a collision that put herself, Reutter and South Korean frontrunner Cho Ha-ri into the boards and out of the race. Officials disqualified Wang, and invoked a special rule to allow Reutter and Cho to advance.

In the final, South Korea's Lee Eun-Byul and Park Seung-Hi finished second and third behind Zhou.

Wang has been one of the most prominent faces in the Chinese media during these games. She is China's winningest winter Olympian, having won gold, silver and bronze medals in the 2006 Olympics, followed by her 500-meter gold this year. Mainstream media reports in China—in outlets including Xinhua, China Daily and Titan Sports Newspaper—have glossed over Wang's disqualification, focusing almost solely on Zhou's win. But in more open online forums, Wang is a hot topic of debate—with some Internet users arguing she was wrongly disqualified and others suggesting she may have been instructed by coaches to skate dirty and give Zhou a better chance at winning.

Both Zhou and Wang skate for the last time in the 1,000-meter event, with preliminaries Feb. 24 at 5:00 p.m. PST (9:00 a.m. Beijing time on Feb. 25). Finals are Friday, Feb. 26 at 7:24 PST (11:24 a.m. Beijing time on Saturday, Feb. 27).

Zhou Yang image: blog.163.com

China's 2010 Winter Olympians: Liu Jiayu, snowboarding

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 23:34:00 +0800

UPDATE:Despite heading into the final in second place, Liu finished just out of the medals at 4th, behind Tora Bright of Australia, and Hannah Teeter and Kelly Clark of the USA. Sun Zhifeng came in 7th. Despite a medal-less day, China held steady at 9th in the medal standings.
For the most part, in the 2010 Winter Olympics, China's best medal hopes come in sports where it has had some success in the past—speedskating, skiing aerials and figure skating. But there are a couple of exceptions. In 2009, China won its first ever world championships in two winter sports—women's curling and women's snowboarding.

Snowboarder Liu Jiayu (刘佳宇) started training in 2003, and shook up the snowboarding world order when she won the world championship in the halfpipe last year at the age of 17. Liu uses wushu (Chinese martial arts) in her training, according to this CCTV report. Like all of China's medalists to date in these Olympics, she was born in Harbin in far north Heilongjiang province. Liu's success in the sport doesn't reflect a snowboarding boom on the mainland, it is among several extreme sports that are growing in popularity. For videos of Chinese snowboarders, skateboarders, surfers and parkour runners, check out Niurenku.com.

The women's halfpipe competition takes place Feb. 18--qualifying round at 12:30 PST (4:30 a.m. Beijing time, Feb 19), semifinals 4:00 p.m. PST (8:00 a.m. Beijing time, Feb 19) and finals at 6:00 PST (10:00 a.m. Beijing time, Feb 19).

China also has a sliver of a medal hope in women's speedskating Thursday, as 500-meter bronze medalist Wang Beixing takes to the ice again. She is not as strong in the 1,000-meter event; her best ever finish was sixth at the Nagano World Championships in 2008, and she dropped to 10th at worlds last year. Also skating for China are Yu Jing, Ren Hui, Jin Peiyu.

Video:

CCTV report on Liu Jiayu

Metacafe.com on Liu's world cup win

Liu Jiayu on NBCOlympics.com

Liu Jiayu image: Sports.sina.com

China's 2010 Winter Olympians: Wang Meng and Zhou Yang, short track speedskating

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 00:19:00 +0800

UPDATE: Wang Meng won gold, making her China's most decorated Winter Olympian, with two golds, one silver and one bronze. Zhou Yang finished 5th. Medal number 4 for China puts it in 9th place in the medal count. Wang competes next in the 1,500, with heats at 9:45 a.m. Beijing time, on Sunday Feb. 21, and finals two hours later.

Wang Meng (王濛) is the most dominant athlete in China's 2010 Olympic delegation. The 24-year-old won three medals in Torino in 2006--gold in the 500m event, silver in the 1,000 and bronze in the 1,500. She is also the reigning world champion in the 500 and 1,000, with back-to-back 500 titles. In the preliminaries at Vancouver, she skated to an Olympic record of 43.926 seconds. Wang is more outspoken and outwardly competitive than many Chinese athletes. She has had a rocky history with her sport's officials in China, and left the national team for part of 2007 over a training dispute.

Chasing Wang and her first Olympic medal is 18-year-old Zhou Yang (周洋), who also moved on to the next stage, posting the second fastest qualifying time at 44.115 seconds.

Short track speedskating is China's top source of Winter Olympics medals, accounting for five of its 11 medals in Turin. China's first gold medalist in the winter games was Yang Yang (pictured above), in the 2002 games. The Chinese women won last year's world team championship in the Netherlands, and 2008 world championships in Harbin.

As China's program rapidly improves, its rivalry with Korea is heating up. Korea's head coach, Choi Gong-Bok, threw water bottles at a Chinese official who was taping a Korean training session, according to this report

The 500m short track final takes place Wednesday, Feb. 17 at 7:07 p.m. PST, or Thursday, Feb. 18 at 11:00 a.m. Beijing time.

The top threats to Wang and Zhou (Saturday heat times in parentheses) are Katherine Reutter, USA (44.187); Park Seung-Hi, Korea (44.221); Kalyna Roberge, Canada (44.254); and Cho Ha-Ri, Korea (44.313).

Related: Chinese speed skaters will medal at Vancouver Olympics, Canadian team coach says

Wang/Yang image: Baidu

Third 2010 Winter Olympics Medal: Wang Beixing, speed skating

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 20:10:00 +0800

Wang Beixing (王北星) won China's third medal of the Vancouver Olympics, taking bronze in the 500 meters women's speed skating event with a time of 38.48. Gold went to Lee Sang-Hwa of Korea and silver to Germany's Jenny Wolf. Wang, originally from Harbin, is coached by Canadian Kevin Crockett and has trained in Canada since 2003, when she was 18 years old. She went into the Feb. 16 competition ranked second in the world, and is a four-time world runner-up.

Wang skates again on Thursday, Feb. 18 at 1:00 PST (5:00 a.m. on Friday, Feb. 19, Beijing time), in the 1,000-meter event. She is currently 4th in the world rankings for the 1,000.

China finished the day at 7th overall in the medal rankings. In related news, the city of Harbin is also ranked 7th.

Wang Beixing image: Sports.mop.com

Double double: Figure skating pairs bag China's first two medals

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 13:01:00 +0800

With three Chinese pairs still in the medal hunt today, it looked very likely that China's first medal of the 2010 Winter Olympics would come in figure skating. Shen Xue/Zhao Hongbo (申雪／赵宏博) and Tong Jian/Pang Qing (佟建／庞清) were the last two pairs to skate in Monday night's free skate, and the only of the medal contenders that completed a fall-free program (final standings on Vancouver2010.com.

Shen/Zhao snagged the gold that has eluded them in their previous three bronze medal performances, with a score of 216.57. Taking silver were Tong/Pang, with 213.31 overall. German world champions got the bronze, at 210.6.

The third Chinese pair, Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao, ended up in fifth place. The day's results no doubt indicate that China has a strong figure skating program, but most of the media attention focuses on Shen and Zhao--married, retired, unretired, and now Olympic champions. In his report on the couple, The Wall Street Journal's Ian Johnson quotes Zhao as saying, "When I hold her in my arms, I don't have to pretend to love her. I do."

Links:
Chinese Skating Pair Breaks the Mold

Related:
China's 2010 Winter Olympians: Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo, pairs figure skating

Figure skating: Shen and Zhao on top heading into pairs final

Shen/Zhao image: Xinmin.cn

Figure Skating: Shen and Zhao on top heading into pairs final

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 00:17:00 +0800

After breaking their own world record Sunday, Chinese figure skating pair Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo have a good chance of becoming China's first medalists at the 2010 Winter Olympics.

The veteran couple posted a score of 76.66, beating out the world champions from Germany, Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy, who weren't far behind at 75.96. Philip Hersh of the Chicago Tribune wrote: "In their 2 minutes, 50 seconds of captivating power and effortless beauty, the Chinese set the bar where no pair ever had been." The score beat Shen and Zhao's previous world record, set just a couple of months ago.

Shen, 31, and Zhao, 36, face a tough field in the final, which takes place at 5:00 p.m. PST on February 15 (9 a.m. Beijing time, Feburary 16). The Two other Chinese pairs are still in contention—Pang Qing and Tong Jian finished Sunday in fourth place, and Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao came in at fifth. Russians Yuko Kavaguti and Alexander Smirnov are in third place with a score of 74.16.

Other Chinese athletes competing for medals on February 15 are free cross country skiers Li Hongxue (women) and Xu Wenlong (men), both long shots; and men's speed skaters Yu Fengtong, Zhang Zhongqi, Liu Fangyi and Wang Nan (all men). Yu is China's record holder in the 500 and 1,000 meters, but his best result is a 13th-place finish in the 2005 World Championships.

Related: Shen-Zhao lead pairs figure skating

China's 2010 winter Olympians: Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo, pairs figure skating

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 13:15:00 +0800

Figure skating pair Shen Xue (申雪） and Zhao Hongbo （赵宏博) bring China its made-for-Hollywood drama in these Olympics—a comeback story, a love story and one last shot at a decades-old dream. The husband-and-wife team has skated together for almost 20 years. They won a bronze medal in their second Olympics, in Salt Lake City. Their hopes to contend for gold in Turin were diminished when Zhao ruptured his Achilles' tendon six months before the games. They fought their way to a repeat bronze, but the struggle tested their relationship, they say. The pair returned to the ice in 2007, and after they won the world championship, Zhao proposed to Shen on the ice. Shortly after, they announced their retirement.

The couple who, like many of China's winter Olympians, grew up in Harbin, came out of retirement last May. They proceeded to win three Grand Prix titles in the past year.

In a recent Reuters story, Shen says, "This is not our best chance. It is just our last chance, a last chance at the Olympics."

Olympic experience

Nagano, 1998: Fifth place
Salt Lake City 2002: bronze
Turin 2006: bronze

Other international experience: World champions in 2002, 2003, 2007

When to watch them compete: 4:30 p.m. EST (5:30 a.m. Beijing time), Sunday February 14--Valentine's Day, Chinese New Year and Day 1 of the pairs figure skating competition

Reuters: Last chance for Chinese figure skating pair
NBCOlympics.com: Figure skating schedule and results