2011 Apr 15 Talking Balls: A Fine, A Forum, A Tiger & Tiger Mothers Sports Roundup
Well done to Hao Junmin. While he did not play for Schalke 04 in their two-leg 7-3 mauling of Inter Milan in the UEFA Champions' League he is still on course to become the first Chinese footballer to play in the tournament's semi-finals. Next up for the Germans is Manchester United.
Guangdong and Xinjiang will have their first game of the CBA Finals tonight
at 7.30pm in Guangdong. Neither of them has lost during the play off. One of them will have to over the course of the next seven games. Check out NiuBBall for more and here’s China Sports Review’s take on the disappointment of the recent CBA All-Star Weekend.
Houston didn't get to the NBA playoffs, so Yao Ming is back in China. There was no rest for the big man as he attended Asia’s equivalent of the World Economic Forum, the Boao forum. In related basketball news here’s how Amy Chua’s tiger mothering has affected Chinese basketball.
Peng Shuai made the semis of the Charleston tournament. Peng has said that she will not be dropping her doubles commitments for the sake of next year’s Oympics. Li Na has dismissed rumors of retirement that suggested she would bow out at the end of this season. Renowned tennis coach Carlos Rodriguez, who trained Justine Henin, has suggested that Li’s current slump is nothing more than a blip. Rodriguez has stepped-up his interest in the Potter's Wheel International Tennis Center at the Renaissance Beijing Capital Hotel and has big plans for coaching China’s future stars.
Ding Junhui’s performance at the China Open has propelled him into the top three players in the world. Bad news for Ding is that he has been fined USD 3,255 for failing to declare an illness at the Euro Players Tour Championship event in Russelheim, Germany last year.
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero had a meeting with Wen Jiabao on Wednesday. Football was part of their topic during the meeting. Wen has brought out two suggestions, first he suggest that the two national teams can have a friendly match in November and he also hopes that there will be matches and between the two countries every year.The Spanish prime minister responded positively, and suggested to send their national team to play in China on Nov 11which was agreed to by the chief of the Spanish Football Association. China also announced a plan to cooperate with Brazil on sports this week.
Beijing Guoan lost their first home game of the season 3-1 to Hangzhou Greentown lastSunday. They will visit Guangzhou Hengda on Sunday. Kick-off is 7.30pm. Check out Wild East Football for more on the CSL.
Tiger Woods was in China during the week, after his trip to Shenzhen he went to a small promotion event at Beijing Sports University. Below is a video of his "conversation" with Liu Xiang. When prompted to ask Liu a question Woods offered "Are you hungry? Wanna go to dinner?" Smooth as ever, Tiger.
Tseng Yani of Chinese Taipei finished runner-up in the LPGA Kraft Nabisco Championship golf tournament.
The Dutch-Chinese Lotus Renault test driver Tung Ho-pin is still following his Formula 1 dream. He’s now launched an official site on Sohu. Follow him here.
Former national volleyball player Zhao Ruirui just published a fantasy
novel. They say never judge a book by its cover but …
And finally, if you fancy yourself as a designer then head to www.haiyang2012.com. That’s where you’ll find all the info you need to design the torch and medals for the 2012 Asian Beach Games.
Photos from China Daily and ChinaCM.com
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Talking Balls: Shame On Shanxi, Ghastly Guoan & Some Sports Shorts
The Beijing Ducks and Shanxi Brave Dragons have gone to game five in their CBA playoff semi-final. The game was originally set for March 14 but was postponed until March 18 so that everyone could enjoy St. Patrick’s Day. No, actually it was put back because of a near-riot in game four. Shanxi’s fans also took that meeting as an opportunity to shower the court with debris. They've been fined nine times for similar incidents over the last four years. They have just added another RMB 60,000 to the CBA's Christmas party fund. You stay classy, Shanxi.
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What another lincredible week for Jeremy Lin. He’s gone from "novelty to Knicks star" in almost a linstant and now there’s lots of linterest in him on the linternet. His name is also the kind that the media love in their sports stars – it is very easy to bend into very bad puns. Wordplay aside this young man has got game. Just not as much as Yao according to NBA supremo David Stern. There’s lots more coverage of JLin all over the web. There's USA Today’s article on Asian stereotypes in coverage of the Knicks’ guard, another on Lin being happy to smash stereotypes and the news that people are already trying to turn this hype into profit. Hell, it's even got to Beijing Boyce. Anyway, here's Jeremy larking about off the court ...
