The Beijinger Blog - Sport

Talking Balls: Patriots, Stars and Subsitutes

thebeijinger — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 16:00:00 +0800

Tickets are now on sale for the Sanyuan Foods China Open 2010. That’s snooker for the uninitiated. Tickets are priced at RMB 20-2,010 and available by clicking here. To have a look at the schedules and find out when you might see Ronnie O’Sullivan click here.

There’s been more fall-out from the Winter Olympics. Gold medal winner Zhou Yang has come under fire for thanking her parents when everyone knows that you should thank your country above all. To remind her of this was State Sports General Administration deputy director Yu Zaiqing who said “Thanking your parents is not a problem, but should thank the country first. Must put the country first, don’t just thank your parents and that’s it.”

"Every Piece is Creative" – Beijing Personality Ai Wan

thebeijinger — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 12:00:00 +0800

To say the Shanghai-born, American-raised Beijing personality Ai Wan has had an eclectic career would be an understatement. Once named “world most exotic beauty” by American Playboy magazine, Ai Wan opened one of Beijing’s best-known nightclubs, ChinaDoll, back in 2006, and writes a regular column on the capital’s clubbing culture for Modern Weekly. She has also appeared in a raft of films, including Rush Hour and Zhang Ziyi's comedy Sophie’s Revenge, and produced the controversial Chinese documentary Yasukuni, which screened at the Berlin Film Festival in 2008. On the eve of her hosting of the Beijinger's 2010 Reader Restaurant Awards, we caught up with Ai Wan to find out what she has been up to recently.

Talking Balls: Dopers, Dopes and the Dopey Looking

thebeijinger — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:30:00 +0800

Remember Mohamed Kallon? The former Inter Milan star was banned for eight months in 2003 for testing positive for Nandrolone and then ended up setting up his own club back in his native Sierra Leone. Well Mr. Kallon no longer plays for the egotistically named Kallon FC, no, he’s back in the big time … at Shaanxi Neo-China Chanba. Joking aside, Kallon was one of the brightest talents in the world game and at 30 years-old his signing has placed Shaanxi as favourites for the CSL title. Bad luck for Beijing’s hopes of retaining the trophy.

Vancouver 2010 Round-up: Bottles, Bronzes and Bawdiness

thebeijinger — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 18:20:00 +0800

The Olympics in Winter? How do they do the diving events? Absolute madness if you ask me. It turns out that the Winter Games concentrate on more traditional winter sports like shooting things while out skiing and going headfirst down hills. For those who this is all news to here is what happened in Vancouver.

Canada vs USA at The Irish Volunteer

thebeijinger — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 14:15:00 +0800

This is it: the marquee event of the XXI Winter Olympic Games has its marquee matchup on the final day of competition. (With all due respect to the men’s 50 km cross-country skiing race, we’re not talking about that). By all indications, Canada vs. USA for men’s hockey gold at 12:15 p.m. Vancouver time, 4:15 a.m. (Monday morning) Beijing, will overshadow the closing ceremony. So why is this match important and where can we catch the action in Beijing?

Talking Balls: Winners, Losers and New Starts

wange1002 — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 16:49:08 +0800

The Winter Olympics is well underway. China’s been racking up the medals – providing that racking up suggests no more than five. Zhou Yang and Wang Meng blitzed the ladies short track speed skating in the 1500 and 500 meter categories respectively. Wang was disqualified in the Semi-final of the 500m. China’s other gold (or is that two) came from figure skating pair Zhao Hongbo and Shen Xue. The married skaters subsequently retired after reaching their career goal. This will give hope to the pair they beat into silver, Tong Jian and Pang Qing. Finally, third place on the podium was 500m speed skater Wang Beixing.

Canada vs. The World: Ice Hockey Finds a Home in Beijing

thebeijinger — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 15:30:00 +0800

Before I met Ray Plummer, who manages the Beijing International Ice Hockey League, he sent me a one-line e-mail in response to coming to one of their games: “Drink lots of beer when watching.”

Talking Balls: Top Ten Tennis (& At Least One Uncomfortable Kiss)

thebeijinger — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 17:00:00 +0800

It all proved to be a step too far for Li Na and Zheng Jie at the Australian Open. Both fell at the Semi-final hurdle. Li Na went down fighting to eventual winner Serena Williams. Zheng Jie was overwhelmed by the resurgent Justine Henin in just 51 minutes – the fastest match of the tournament.

Carve Up the Ice at Workers’ Stadium

thebeijinger — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 09:00:00 +0800

Another outdoor ice rink has been added to Beijing’s ever-growing collection of winter playgrounds. Conveniently located at Workers' Stadium East Gate, the 1,248 sq meter open air facility is open daily until 10pm.

Talking Balls: Rackets, Brackets & Super Pay Packets

thebeijinger — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 17:30:00 +0800

Chinese tennis poster girl Zheng Jie has hammered her way through to a Semi-Final against Justin Henin in the Australian Open in Melbourne. Her opponent in the Quarter-Final was the also unseeded Maria Kirilenko. She saw off the Russian in two sets – 6-1 and 6-3. Zheng had beaten the Muscovite in four of their previous five matches. If I were a gambling man, and in a country that did not rightly forbid such a pursuit, I would say the odds favored the Chengdu native from the start. In any case, Zheng is set to do nicely for making it this far, winning AUD 400,000 (around RMB 2.5 million) for being a semi-finalist.