Olympics

China begins search for a new Olympic star

2 Comments

I wrote last week about speed skater Wang Meng breaking her ankle after she crashed into an as-yet-unnamed male teammate, putting a serious dent into China’s Olympic hopes. Some people have pointed out to me since that China doesn’t exactly need much sympathy when it comes to the Olympics – their last six medal tables have seen them finish 4th, 4th, 3rd, 2nd, 1st, 2nd.

Photo credit: Getty Images
Photo credit: Getty Images

But that is the Summer Games, and the Winter Games is a different story, Continue reading China begins search for a new Olympic star →

Olympics

China’s star skater out of Sochi Games

7 Comments

Wang Meng, China’s most decorated Winter Olympian (4G, 1S, 1B), is out of the 2014 Olympics in Sochi after fracturing her ankle on Thursday. The short track speed skater won three of China’s five gold medals at the Vancouver Olympics in 2010 (500m, 1000m, 3000m relay), which won her CCTV’s Sports Personality of the Year award, and she was hotly tipped to add to that tally in Sochi.

Wang Meng in Vancouver 2010 Continue reading China’s star skater out of Sochi Games →

Table Tennis

Ping pong boss to China: starting losing please!

3 Comments

It used to be that sports were run by sportsmen and women. But then, as is often the case, money got in the way and sports became more “professional”, so “professionals” were hired to run the sports.

For example, the head of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) used to be former star Chinese player Xu Yinsheng, until he was replaced in 1999 by a “professional”, an electrical engineer called Adham Sharara. The Egyptian-born Canadian also played on the national team for three years, but his biography makes it clear he is a career administrator who played, rather than top player-turned-administrator.

15 years later, Sharara is still in charge and coming out with gems like this:

Continue reading Ping pong boss to China: starting losing please! →

Tennis

Li, Zheng progress, Peng Shuai ignored [UPDATED]

Leave a comment

Li Na cruised through to the third round of the Australian Open on Wednesday with a 6-0, 7-6 win over Swiss teenager Belinda Bencic, while Zheng Jie had a tougher battle, eventually downing American Madison Keys 7-6,1-6, 7-5. But for all the talk about China’s new generation of tennis players (here and elsewhere), Li and Zheng were the only two to make it out of the first round – from the eight who made the main draw.

Li Na reaches Australian Open third round Continue reading Li, Zheng progress, Peng Shuai ignored [UPDATED] →

Tennis

Mixed fortunes for China at Australian Open

1 Comment

China had a record eight players in the singles draw for the Australian Open. Of the five who played on Day 1, there were wins for Li Na (vs 16-year-old Croatian Ana Konjuh) and Zheng Jie (vs 12th seed Roberta Vinci), while wildcard playoff winners Wu Di and Tang Haochen both lost, as did Zhang Shuai, who had ended 2013 so well.

Half of China's contingent at the Australian Open

Continue reading Mixed fortunes for China at Australian Open →

General

Welcome to China Sports Insider

Leave a comment

New Year, new site.

Welcome to the new incarnation of The Li-Ning Tower, which will soon automatically redirect here. A relaunch and rebrand has been a long time coming, but the main points are that the blog will no longer:

Image

Please bear with us as some older features are reintroduced and some new ones are phased in, but rest assured that the content will follow on from 2013’s success, during which the blog was quoted or linked to by Bloomberg, USA Today, Huffington Post, CNBC, Quartz, New York Daily News, NBA.com, Al Jazeera, China Daily and others.

Football

Rare FIFA wisdom for Chinese soccer

1 Comment

Guangzhou Evergrande’s recent Asian Champions League victory gave Chinese soccer fans something to smile about again, even if the national team – comprised of many of those same Evergrande players – has yet to follow suit.

Guangzhou Evergrande at FIFA Club World CupThe ACL win gave Guangzhou entry into this year’s FIFA Club World Cup – a tournament in which, essentially, the UEFA Champions League winners get another meaningless trophy. Continue reading Rare FIFA wisdom for Chinese soccer →

Cycling

China blamed for cyclist’s positive doping test?

1 Comment

Team Sky long ago set out their stall as being whiter than white in the historically murky world of cycling, and there has been no evidence of any impropriety by any of their riders while at Sky. But two riders with links to the team are in a bit of trouble right now. Current Sky rider Jonathan Tiernan-Locke is being investigated for an anti-doping violation dating to before he joined the team, and now Michael Rogers, who rode at Sky in support of Bradley Wiggins’ 2012 Tour de France victory but left shortly after admitting his past involvement with the Doping Doctor Michele Ferrari, has been provisionally suspended for testing positive for clenbuterol.

Image
I’m an elite athlete and I’ll eat anything.

His excuse is pathetic. In a seven-sentence statement, the third and fourth ones are key: Continue reading China blamed for cyclist’s positive doping test? →

Golf

No fairytale ending for Masters star Guan in Hong Kong

1 Comment

Chinese golfing prodigy Guan Tianlang made global headlines in April by becoming the youngest golfer ever to make the cut in a major championship, aged just 14. Now at the grand old age of 15, Guan was again competing against the pros last week, this time at the Hong Kong Open.

Image
Photo credit: Getty Images

Continue reading No fairytale ending for Masters star Guan in Hong Kong →

Sports business news and analysis in China and Asia