Kevin Du's unusual path to hockey success
Thursday, 20th November 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (1)
Thanks to Shanghaiist contributor Geoff Ng for alerting CST to this video about Chinese-Canadian hockey player Kevin Du. Du, who graduated from Harvard in 2007, now plays for the Shanghai Sharks. The video tells the story of his family; his father fled Saigon in 1975, spent five months in a Malaysian refugee camp and eventually gained immigrant status in Alberta, Canada. He encouraged young Kevin to play hockey as a way to insulate him from the racism that the family faced as the only Chinese family in a small town.
In an interview on the video, the elder Du speaks about the ability of sports to help people see beyond their differences: "We want to blend a kid into society so they don't feel different than the other kids. And no better way to do that than by playing hockey, because in hockey you meet a lot of people."
Tags: Chinese-Canadian, hockey, Kevin Du, Shanghai Sharks
Rogge expects more doping cases, Liu needs surgery
Monday, 10th November 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
A short glance at some of China's biggest current sports stories:Liu Xiang
Doctors that hurdler Liu Xiang visited in the United States agreed with his Chinese doctors in advising surgery for the Achilles tendon injury that kept him out of the Beijing Olympics.
Doping
The International Olympic Committee is still conducting doping tests from the August Olympics, and IOC president Jacques Rogge said he expects at least 15 cases from this year's Olympiad.
Diving
Former Chinese national team diving coach Yu Fen has threatened legal action against diving's administrative body, to secure several million yuan she believes she is owed in bonuses from her tenure with the team, which ended in 1997. Yu coached greats Guo Jingjing and Wu Mingxia.
Soccer/Football
Tickets are on sale for the Chinese women's national soccer team's match against gold medalists the United States at Detroit's Ford Field December 17.
Aquatics
Hong Kong is among the cities bidding to host the 2013 FINA World Championships. The world governing body for aquatic sports including swimming, diving, water polo and synchronized swimming holds a world championship every year. The 2011 championships will take place in Shanghai.
Tags: diving, doping, FINA, football, Guo Jingjing, Liu Xiang, soccer, swimming, track and field, Wu Mingxia, Yu Fen
Baron Davis inks deal with Li-Ning
Saturday, 8th November 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
Los Angeles Clippers point guard Baron Davis will wear Li-Ning this season, a big marketing score for the Chinese shoe manufacturer (story in Chinese).
The Li-Ning contract replaces Davis's deal with Reebok, a brand that still has virtually no presence in China despite having Yao Ming in its clutches.
Davis' signing with Li-Ning is notable because he is an All-Star who doesn't play with a Chinese player or for a blue-chip NBA team. Since Li-Ning signed a deal with the NBA in 2005 to allow players to wear their shoes at games and other NBA events, players who put their name behind the brand have included Luis Scola of the Houston Rockets and Shaquille O'Neal, who was with the Miami Heat when he hooked up with the brand; and Lebron James' teammate, Damon Jones.
Li-Ning is not known very well outside of China, but it has the biggest market share in the sports apparel category in the mainland, well ahead of Adidas and Nike.
It made a big push for international recognition at the 2008 Olympics, outfitting teams including the Spanish national basketball team, and scoring perhaps the biggest marketing coup of the games—a high-profile appearance in the Opening Ceremonies for CEO and founder, retired gymnast Li Ning.
By signing Davis, Li-Ning is confirming what those who keep track of China's young basketball lovers already know—NBA fans here have gone far beyond Yao Ming worship, to become sophisticated followers of the entire league and all of its best players.
Li-Ning isn't the only sneaker brand working with NBA players. Peak has long used Shane Battier of the Houston Rockets as the face of its basketball gear; and after the Olympics, Peak also signed Jason Kidd of the Dallas Mavericks.
Image: Sina.com
Tags: Baron Davis, Damon Jones, Jason Kidd, Li-Ning, Los Angeles Clippers, Luis Scola, marketing, Peak, Reebok, Shane Battier, Yao Ming
Yao quitting the Chinese national team?
Friday, 24th October 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
Chinese media (beginning, reportedly, with Shanghai's Oriental Sports Daily) began reporting earlier this week that Yao Ming had announced plans to quit the Chinese national team.The center has since denied the reports to the Houston Chronicle. But his denial wasn't too forceful.
"I haven't announced that," he told the Chronicle. "I think now there is no national team and all I want to worry about is playing 82 games and the playoffs."
Yao had made comments to the Houston Chronicle before playing in his third Olympics earlier this year, indicating that this would be his last Olympic appearance. He will be almost 32 years old when the next games take place in 2012 in London. And with injuries dragging down his NBA career, including a broken foot that nearly kept him out of the Olympics, it's not much of a stretch to think the big guy might need a break.
In other Yao news, his doctor in Houston is reportedly seeing Liu Xiang next week, to see if he can help the injured hurdler.
Tags: basketball, Houston Chronicle, Liu Xiang, Olympics, Yao Ming
Liao Guiming wins Omega Order of Merit
Friday, 17th October 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
Despite finishing 17th at the season-ending Omega Championship in Beijing last week, Liao Guiming (廖贵明) finished first in this year's Omega Order of Merit, the ranking system for China's pro golf circuit.Liao finished the season with 375,125 yuan in prize money, putting him about 45,000 yuan ahead of second place finisher Zhang Lianwei and more than 100,000 yuan ahead of third-place Zhou Jun. The 31-year-old from Guangxi has played in every Omega event since the tour's inception in 2005. He finished 10th in last year's rankings.
"I'm really happy. Winning the Omega Order of Merit proves I have the ability. I had a great career as an amateur but it took me five years to finally win as a pro," Liao said.
Liao's 17th place finish in the final event opened the door for Li Chao (李超) to overtake him in the Order of Merit, but Li placed fourth in the tournament, leaving him at fourth place overall in the rankings.
Zhou Jun, 24 years old, became the youngest player to win on the tour with his victory at the Omega Championship, which was played at Beijing Longxi Hotspring Golf Club. He shot a six-under total of 282.
Tags: golf, Li Chao, Liao Guiming, Omega China Tour, Zhang Lianwei, Zhou Jun
NBA to build arenas across China
Wednesday, 15th October 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
Among the challenges the NBA faces in holding games in China, or otherwise taking advantage of the league's huge popularity here, is a lack of venues equipped to host NBA events. As has been expected, the league is making big moves to remedy that situation, with a joint venture with Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) to develop a dozen arenas in China.Early reports and conventional wisdom suggest that the first site developed will be in Shanghai, with an 18,000-seat arena completed in time for the 2010 Shanghai World Expo. The second site, Guangzhou, is expected to be announced at Wednesday's NBA preseason game at Guangzhou Gymnasium.
"Our largest market outside the United States is going to be here in China," said Heidi Ueberroth, president of NBA global marketing partnerships and international business operations. Tim Chen, CEO of NBA China, said that the NBA and AEG will have a $28 million stake in the Shanghai project and that the total project cost will be $277 million. By contrast, the Ford Center, a similarly sized arena that will host the Oklahoma City Thunder (formerly the Seattle Supersonics), cost $89 million to build.
NBA commissioner David Stern indicated that construction wouldn't start right away and that the league hadn't chose all of the locations for arenas, which could also be in "Greater China" cities like Taipei, Macao and Hong Kong.. "We weren't going to start construction in the next couple of weeks," he said at a news conference with AEG in London. "We anticipate that in a relatively short order we will have laid out a road map of a dozen buildings or so throughout China." He added that decisions would be made over the next several months about where to put arenas.
AEG president and CEO Timothy J. Leiweke said he considered it a 20-year project, and that most of the new venues will be "built and designed from the ground up."
The arenas will be part of multiuse entertainment complexes, according to a statement from the NBA: "Where feasible, the arenas will be developed in conjunction with surrounding cultural and entertainment districts potentially comprised of restaurants, retail outlets, cinemas, hotels, residential areas, sports training facilities and smaller live entertainment venues."
The announcement comes just days before the Milwaukee Bucks and Golden State Warriors play a pair of pre-season games in China. They will play at Guangzhou Gymnasium October 15 and on October 18 at Wukesong Arena in Beijing, the Olympic basketball venue developed by the NBA.
Related: Bucks and Warriors to play in China in 2008
Basketball's China Game Plan
Tags: basketball, Beijing, Guangzhou, NBA, Shanghai, Wukesong
Xu and Zhou lead first round of China golf final
Friday, 10th October 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
Xu Qin
Wu Ligui, Andy Zhou Xunshu and Hong Kong-based Nick Redfern are all tied for third with 70.
Xu played a bogey-free, three-birdie round to take the opening day lead. The 24-year-old from Tianjin believes in dressing well to play well, and says he models his look after British player Ian Poulter, who has his own clothing line.
"If I dress well, I feel good," Xu said after Thursday's round. "Recently I've been paying even more attention to Ian Poulter. I always check what he's wearing, from his trousers to his shirts. My hair is also high like his." Xu might be paying a little too much attention to his look, though; he was disqualified from the season-opener in Guangzhou because he missed his tee-time.
The two players contending for first place in the Order of Merit, a ranking of players by total prize money won, are current overall leader Liao Guiming and third-place player Li Chao (second-ranked Zhang Lianwei is not playing at Longxi). Both Liao and Li shot 72 on Thursday.
Xu Qin image: Omega China Tour
Tags: Li Chao, Liao Giuming, Wu Ligui, Xu Qin, Zhou Jun
Yao, Yi and Sun face different pre-season challenges
Tuesday, 7th October 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
As the start of the NBA season gets closer, each of China's three NBA players--veteran Yao Ming, second-year player Yi Jianlian and rookie Sun Yue--is facing completely different challenges.Yao Ming, along with Tracy McGrady, is one of two leaders of a Houston Rockets team that's in the hunt for a long-awaited NBA title. He's also still working on completely healing from a foot fracture that ended his season 26 games early last year. A healthy and productive season for Yao is obviously a key ingredient to team success, and to his status as one of the league's premier big men.
Yi Jianlian is adjusting to his new team, the New Jersey Nets, and jetting to Paris and London for exhibition games against the Miami Heat. After getting his wish of moving to a larger market with a bigger Chinese-American population, the power forward is now vying for playing time with other talented front court players including Josh Boone, Stromile Swift, Eduardo Najera and Brook Lopez.
In Los Angeles, Lakers rookie Sun Yue is out indefinitely with mononucleosis. The illness should keep him off the court and out of the weight room for several weeks, not a good look for a player who needs some quick NBA grooming to establish himself as someone who is ready for the league.
Ironically, no Chinese nationals will be suiting up for the two pre-season games in Beijing later this month. The Golden State Warriors take on Yi's former team, the Milwaukee Bucks, in a pair of games October 15 and 18, in Guangzhou and Beijing.
Tags: Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Lakers, Milwaukee Bucks, NBA, New Jersey Nets, Sun Yue, Yao Ming, Yi Jianlian
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