Well that didn’t last very long. Tipped by many to become the next world snooker champion after his record-breaking season, China’s Ding Junhui lost to qualifier Michael Wasley 10-9 in the first round in what World Snooker’s official website called “one of the biggest first round shocks in Crucible history”.
Snooker may not be everybody’s cup of tea, but it’s perhaps the best example of the Chinese taking over a sport in a short space of time. Since Ding Junhui won his first China Open title in 2005 as an 18-year-old (he added his second on Sunday), the sport has grown so much here that there are now 13 Chinese in the world’s top 100 players, and five of the season’s 11 full ranking tournaments now take place in China. In TV viewing terms, it’s now firmly established in the second tier of sports (with basketball and soccer the only true Tier 1 occupants).
在被幸运女神眷顾了三个月之后，中国网球“一姐”李娜2014年开年以来的好运最终走到了尽头。在今年的迈阿密索尼公开赛决赛之前，李娜的2014赛季已取得了21胜2负的骄人战绩。但是她的成功却建立在从未与世界前10交手的基础上，这不得不说是一件很奇特的事。不过，北京时间3月30日，李娜还是迎来了她本赛季第一位“世界前10”的对手，而这个人就是李娜此前已连负9次的世界第一——塞雷娜•威廉姆斯(小威廉姆斯)。
Waxworks in China can either be good – like this one of Li Na in Wuhan – or very, very bad – like this one of Vladimir Putin in Fuzhou. Fortunately, Madame Tussauds’ latest creation of swimmer Ye Shiwen falls into the former category and gets a solid 8 out of 10 on the official China Sports Insider waxometer.
Li Na has probably never before been compared to the Xinjiang Flying Tigers, but there’s a first time for everything. Both are on losing streaks they just can’t do anything about.
Continue reading Li Na’s painful streak continues, Marbury wins 2nd CBA title
Stephon Marbury could be in line for a second statue in Beijing. Having missed most of the season through injury, he has inspired the Beijing Ducks in the CBA playoffs, leading them into a finals showdown against the Xinjiang Flying Tigers after a 3-2 series win against the Guangdong Southern Tigers.
Continue reading Weekly Wrap: Marbury dominates, and China’s 783-0 streak could end
The Chinese Super League season kicked off this past weekend, and goals were few and far between. Ominously, though, the top of the table is already occupied by Guangzhou Evergrande…
That’s Online (also in the print versions) has a nice profile of Darci Liu, China’s first and so far only female professional surfer, who, amazingly, only learnt to swim at the age of 18: Continue reading Sports round-up: CSL, surfing, golf, tennis and the invisible Paralympics
Li Na has always had a strained relationship with the Chinese media – particularly the written press – who accuse her of being arrogant and disrespectful. But as this week’s Sports Talk column discusses, those media now need Li Na far more than she needs them, especially since she has already won over the global press with her Australian Open victory speech, and has a global profile that’s higher than ever given her rise to number 2 in the rankings. Here is an extract:
中国网球运动员李娜周日在自己的新书发布会上表示，自己还想再得一个大满贯冠军，并且登上世界第一的宝座。
…not Li Na, who today was officially confirmed as the number 2 player in the world, but Peng Shuai, who has just risen to the top of the rankings – in doubles.
