Golf

All eyes on Guan Tianlang at the Masters

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Guan Tianlang tees off at the Masters at 12.24 am early on Friday morning China time, playing alongside Ben Crenshaw (the oldest competitor in the field) and 19-year-old Matteo Manassero, who, as a 16-year-old, previously held (well, technically still holds for another few hours…!) the youngest age record at the Masters.

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Good news for Guan in his quest to make the cut: the Masters changed their rules on Wednesday for the first time since 1962 (what is in the water this year??), meaning that more players will now stick around for the weekend’s action. It used to be players standing tied for 44th or better (or within 10 strokes of the lead) would continue to play on Saturday and Sunday, but has been raised to tied for 50th or better (plus those with 10 shots of the lead).

And good news for Guan in his quest to win the whole thing: given that no player has ever won Wednesday’s Par-3 competition AND the Masters proper in the same year, Guan will be “pleased” that Ted Potter Jr, another Masters rookie (but 15 years his senior!) took home the Par-3 prize.

Here’s my take on China’s newest golf sensation for Beijing Cream.

Boxing

Zou Shiming needs to tame wild ways

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Did 300 million people in China really stay up till midnight on Saturday to watch double Olympic boxing champion Zou Shiming make his professional debut, as ring announcer Michael Buffer claimed? The fight had impressive broadcast coverage in China, but given the relative lack of buzz on Weibo, 300 million seems about 250 million too high…

Then again, that’s boxing promoters for you. If you read some of Top Rank’s tweets of the night – eg “Zou Shiming finishes the fight the way he started it: with slick, quick movement and lots of punches.” – you’d have thought Zou already looks like a world beater. That’s certainly not the impression I had, as I wrote in Monday’s Sports Talk column:

The world saw a new Zou Shiming on Saturday night as he made his professional boxing debut. As expected, he beat 18-year-old Mexican Eleazar Valenzuela, but the humble, calm persona that had helped Zou win three Olympic medals – two of them gold – had been replaced with a hyped up version of his former self, and it nearly led to his downfall. 

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Continue reading Zou Shiming needs to tame wild ways →

Boxing

Zou Shiming: China’s next Yao Ming?

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Zou Shiming is a man with a thousand names this week. Known variously by his growing international entourage as Zoo, Zow, Zoe, Joe, Joo and Jow (and that’s before we even get to his given name), the boxer courteously responds to all and sundry with an infectious smile, and willingly answers the same questions over and over again, always giving full and thoughtful soundbites.

ImageIt’s this understated charm that may actually turn out to be more useful to Zou and his team than his boxing talents, which, after winning three Olympic medals (2 gold, 1 bronze), are already legendary.

Continue reading Zou Shiming: China’s next Yao Ming? →

Baseball

Manny Ramirez’s first home run in Taiwan

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Highlights of Manny’s three-RBI night on Thursday, including a home run at the 2:07 mark. The commentators go beserk, as do the fans, even though technically Manny’s team were playing away.

Great line from USA Today’s Ted Berg:

Say what you will about his carefree attitude and history of performance-enhancing drug use and that time he beat up the Boston Red Sox’s traveling secretary, but the guy can hit.

Golf

Sports where puberty is a disadvantage

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Typically adults are better than kids at most sports, but you could argue that’s not the case in diving (smaller bodies = less splash), gymnastics (younger athletes = more flexible) and now you can add golf to the list – or at least golf in China.

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Always remember to hold the backswing for the cameras…

First there was 14-year-old Andy Zhang who gained a last-minute entry into the 2012 US Open as second alternate after Brandt Snedeker and Paul Casey both withdrew through injury. Then there was 13-year-old Guan Tianlang who played in last year’s China Open, a European Tour event, and will tee off at the Masters next week at the ripe old age of 14. And now there is Ye Wocheng, a 12-year-old who will next month break Guan’s record as the youngest to play on the European Tour. Continue reading Sports where puberty is a disadvantage →

American Football, Football

Discrimination in sports: a global problem

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In today’s Sports Talk column, I look at several recent incidents where abuse from fans apparently seems ok, purely because they are sitting in the stands and not meeting in the street, as well as other situations where the attitude in and around clubs is homophobic and discriminatory. Space prevents a proper discussion, and the incidents selected are not always the best – just the most recent – but the point is that the underlying trend is hateful.

Sports can get ugly. There are fouls, bad sportsmanship and cheating, but then there’s something worse: abuse and discrimination, both on and off the field. That ugly side has again reared its head in recent days.

Continue reading Discrimination in sports: a global problem →

Olympics, Table Tennis

Levelling the playing field

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In recent years, Japan and China have had a, shall we say, “strained” relationship, but the Japanese may have just pulled one over their rivals in the most unlikeliest of places – table tennis, currently China’s most watched sport. Image

China has won 24 of a possible 28 gold medals in Olympic ping pong history, adding another 15 silver and 8 bronze. Japan, in contrast, has won a solitary silver medal in seven attempts since the sport was first included in the Olympics in 1988.

But, in perhaps the most sneaky sporting move since Myanmar handpicked most of the sports for this year’s Southeast Asian Games, Japan has moved to level the playing field, by doing exactly that – literally, making sure that the playing field is level. Confused? Continue reading Levelling the playing field →

Football

Brazilian soccer star takes bite of the Chery

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Pete Davis has written recently at Goal.com about how well Brazilians are doing in the Chinese Super League (representing 29% of all foreign players). In this week’s Sports Talk column, I look at how well the Chinese are doing in Brazil:

ImageWhat do Lionel Messi and Neymar have in common? The obvious answer is that they are both among the very best young soccer players in the world, but, off the field, there is now another connection: they have both been sponsored by Chinese automaker Chery.

Continue reading Brazilian soccer star takes bite of the Chery →

Football

ANSWERED: Five questions about The David Beckham Press Conference

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The David Beckham Press Conference (TM) was shown live on CCTV-5, the Chinese national broadcaster’s sports channel, at 2.30pm Beijing time today (and included a couple of searching questions from yours truly!). Here are five things I’d wanted to know, along with the answers:

1. What was the most inane question asked at the press conference?

Answer: Inanity Prize shared between Kid on Stage (How old is your daughter? A: 21 months) and Sky News (How are your chopsticks skills? A: They’re great.)Becks on stage

Continue reading ANSWERED: Five questions about The David Beckham Press Conference →

Sports business news and analysis in China and Asia