The Asian Youth Games, scheduled for August 16-24 in Nanjing and closing just a week before China’s 12th National Games kick off, came up with a fantastic way of saving money: a virtual torch relay. The National Games, meanwhile, have gone a different route, getting rid of the excess celebrations, but also reducing the number of competitors and even eliminating two sports.
Continue reading Thrift campaign turns National Games into Hunger Games
Sina Weibo welcomes Manchester United
Manchester United finally – finally – have an official Sina Weibo page here after a shocking lack of presence here, filled largely by fan pages. For years, the powers that be at Old Trafford were arrogant enough to think that everyone would simply go to the team’s homepage, and the club has now also launched a Twitter page for the first time (@ManUtd). The site now has more than 100,000 followers (though always take Sina Weibo numbers with a sack of salt), as compared to close to four times that amount on Twitter. Nothing of particular note is up yet on the Weibo site – so far just a few pictures and headlines from their Asian Tour – but at least it’s a step in the right direction in trying to connect with Chinese fans.
Continue reading Weekly Wrap: Man Utd, Messi and China’s next big thing
There have been many column inches devoted to Li Na’s temper over the past few weeks, both in the Chinese and foreign press. Prize to the most bizarre line goes to this LA Times piece which contains this gem:
In sports where performance calls for swift reactions — like tennis and soccer — China’s teams have typically struggled.
Whaaaaaat? Er, table tennis anyone? Soccer occasionally calls for quick reactions (as does almost any sport), but to suggest that China is bad at soccer because their players cannot repeat and learn a move again and again is just, well, bizarre.
Continue reading Li Na sick of questions with Chinese characteristics
The big news from the tennis world this weekend was not, of course, Andy Murray becoming Britain’s first winner of the men’s Wimbledon title for 77 years, but China’s Peng Shuai teaming up with Hsieh Su-wei from Taiwan to win the women’s doubles title. Taiwanese media pointed out that President Ma Ying-jeou, Vice President Wu Den-yih, Premier Jiang Yi-huah and Minister of Education Chiang Wei-ling all sent Hsieh congratulatory telegrams (telegrams?? in 2013??).
Continue reading Wimbledon win sparks Taiwan-China controversy [UPDATED]
After yesterday’s piece predicting glory for Chinese finest tennis player, I thought a follow up might be in order. Li Na battled from a set down to force a decider against the 4th seed Agneiszka Radwanska and saved seven match points in total, but finally succumbed 6-7, 6-4, 2-6 in what the Guardian called one of the most engaging matches of the tournament so far. So she won’t be winning Wimbledon any time soon, if ever.
Sabine Lisicki, Petra Kvitova, Agneiszka Radwanska, Marion Bartoli, Sloane Stephens, Kaia Kanepi, Kirsten Flipkens.
Those are the names that stand between Li Na and this year’s Wimbledon title and none of them should cause her to quake in her Nikes. Following Lisicki’s stunning defeat of overwhelming favorite Serena Williams on Monday, the tournament is as open at this stage as it has been in years.
The team behind the excellent Wild East Football blog on Chinese soccer do such a comprehensive job that, Beckham aside, I don’t often get around to focusing on what is still China’s most popular sport. But the farce that is China’s national team appears to have hit a new nadir. You might assume at this point that the only way is up, but with 114 teams currently ranked below China, there’s still plenty of room to underperform their own abysmal standards. Here is today’s Sports Talk column:
They say it’s always darkest before the dawn, but Chinese soccer appears to be in a permanent blackout. Lurching out of the shadows of match-fixing and corruption, the national team stumbles from one defeat to the next.
Manny Ramirez’s 49-game cameo playing baseball for the EDA Rhinos in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, has been one of the most surprising and entertaining sports stories of the year in Asia. Every move – and I mean every – has been documented in great detail by Canadian Brandon DuBreuil, a long-time Taiwan resident with a passion for baseball, in his blog Manny Does Taiwan. Sadly for Brandon, us and especially the people of Taiwan, Manny has decided to take his talents elsewhere, though as of publication, he has yet to find another team. Here’s an interview with Brandon, detailing the three months spent covering Manny’s time in Taiwan.
Tucked away at the end of David Beckham’s second of his three visits to China this year – and conspicuously absent from his stated itinerary, which included visits to Shanghai, Nanjing and Hangzhou, a photo session with some sick kids, a CSL game and a prime-time TV appearance on CCTV with wife Victoria – was this:
Continue reading The real reason David Beckham came to China
Manny Ramirez left Taiwan last week, one week short of completing his initial three-month contract with the EDA Rhinos in the CPBL, ostensibly because he “wanted to spend more time with his family.” While quite possibly true, no one was buying that as the main reason: reports soon linked him to Japan – though nothing has so far materialized – and now his agent has says he’s keen to return to the big leagues i.e. MLB.
Continue reading The 6 stages of grief: Taiwanese people pen letter to Manny
