Around the Web: Curling, HK Sevens, diving and basketball
Tuesday, 31st March 2009 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
China likes gold medals. Exhibit A: Its state sports system has produced a world champion curling team seemingly out of nowhere. China beat out Canada for the gold over the weekend to win the Women's World Curling Championships in South Korea. Last year's silver was China's first medal in the 30-year history of the tournament. Canadian Daniel Rafael coaches the team, which was started in 2001. The team skip is Wang Bingyu. She hails from China's far-north, famously frozen city of Harbin and has been on the team since it was created. A look at her Wikipedia entry will give you an idea how rapid the ascent of China's curling team has been.
Fiji wins Hong Kong Sevens
Fiji beat South Africa in the final to win the Hong Kong leg of the IRB World Sevens Series, the hottest annual sporting event in Greater China. IOC president Jacques Rogge got the rugby world extra excited over the weekend, with his comments that he has "a lot of sympathy" for the sport's case for inclusion in the Olympics.
Divers go 7 for 8 at Changzhou
China's divers took seven out of eight golds at the FINA World Grand Prix event in Changzhou over the weekend. The only event that China conceded was the women's three-meter springboard. Sharleen Stratton of Australia won that one after China's Wu Minxia failed to qualify for the final. China's top female three-meter diver, Guo Jingjing, did not compete. Two dates remain on the 2009 Grand Prix circuit--Sheffield, England, on April 18-19; and Mexico City April 24-25.
New coach for women's basketball
China named Sun Fengwu head coach of its national women's basketball program. He replaces Australian Tom Maher, who led the team to a fourth-place Olympic finish and also seems to have been quite well-liked by players and fans. Sun was a point guard for China's men's team in the 1980s. The pressure is on for Sun to lead the team to a medal at the 2012 Olympics in London, but in his more immediate sights are the following competitions:
Asian Championships in Chinese Taipei in June 21
World Championships in Prague, 2010
Asian Games in Guangzhou, 2010
The team will look pretty different by 2012, Sun told Xinhua. He expects that only three to five players from the current squad will still be around then.
Yao Ming gets waxed
Madame Tussaud's Shanghai's wax sculpture of Yao Ming is currently on loan to Madame Tussaud's in New York. Wax Yao, whose height reportedly called for the use of scaffolding in the construction process, was unveiled with a show featuring a troupe of Chinese acrobats. Personally, the place creeps me out and in five years in New York, I never set foot inside. But apparently the new Madame Tussaud's Sports Zone offers activities like playing Wii tennis with Billie Jean King. Maybe, just maybe, that could draw me in. (Note to Western journalists: If you want to call the guy by his surname, it's Yao, not Ming.)
Chinese curling team image: Sina.com
Tags: basketball, curling, diving, Hong Kong Sevens, rugby, Wang Bingyu, Yao Ming