The tickets are all sold, but the venues are not full
Friday, 15th August 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
Plenty of open seats in Wukesong Arena at the China-Angola men's basketball game
I am talking about empty seats—big swaths of blue, red or grey in arenas and gymnasiums. I saw more again as I watched the opening games of the beach volleyball tournament, and when I attended Olympic tennis, beach volleyball and basketball.
Before Memphis played its second game against the Chinese national team in Yangjiang this spring, assistant coach Rod Strickland looked up at the stands an hour before game time and wondered, "Will they fill it up?"
"This is China," I assured him. "They can fill up any venue they want to." But when the game tipped off, the crowd in that gym was below capacity. Yao Ming, Yi Jianlian and Wang Zhizhi were all out of action, but in a city of 2.6 million people, precious few of whom will have the chance to see Team China in action in Beijing, each one of the 4,000 seats should have been taken. And how can you explain empty chairs at the recent basketball games, featuring China at full strength and starring NBA players who have millions of fans here?
Much has been made of the tickets to these Olympics being sold out, thanks in large part to the large number of affordable tickets being made available domestically. But I wonder if that actually means that the venues will host capacity crowds. When I waited in lines in ticketing phases 3 and 4, I met more than a few people who were waiting in line for their bosses, who wanted tickets to give away to clients. I always found more of these ticket buyers near the front of the line—on the clock and under the gun, they seemed more likely to arrive extremely early.
So what happens when the boss gives a pair of tickets to a fencing preliminary to a client who decides that seeing the event is not worth the time she would need to spend out of the office? What happens when he gives tickets to a client in Sichuan, who decides he can't afford the flight to Beijing and the hotel stay?
This is just one of the many ways that sold out tickets can be prevented from turning into packed gymnasiums. I don't doubt that there are enough sports fans in Beijing to fill all of the Olympic venues—I have gotten calls and messages from Chinese friends desperately seeking a way to buy tickets to taekwondo, basketball and swimming. I had to explain to them that many of my tickets were bought in the United States from people who discovered at the last minute that they couldn't come... visa restrictions, maybe?
I have a feeling that we will see more empty seats than many people expect. If my experience is any indication, something is getting in the way of getting tickets in the hands of people who can actually attend the games.
Related: Washington Post on attendance problems
Tags: basketball, beach volleyball, Beijing Olympics, Olympic ticketing, swimming, tennis
Li Na beats Venus to reach singles tennis semis
Friday, 15th August 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
Another world-class tennis tournament, another semifinal appearance for a Chinese player. Li Na (李娜) pulled off a huge upset and kept China's tennis singles medal hopes alive when she beat Venus Williams (USA)—7-5, 7-5—Thursday night in Beijing. Li, ranked 42nd in the world, dropped the Wimbledon champion and 8th ranked player in two sets.
Olympic quarterfinalist Li Na
Li came back from a 4-1 deficit to force and win a tie break in the first set. She carried that momentum into the next set, going up 3-1. Venus fought back to take three sets in a row and a 4-3 lead, but couldn't hold on to her lead. The win puts Li into the semifinals, where she will face the winner of a match between Jelena Jankovic (Serbia) and Dinara Safina (Russia).
With her win at the 2006 Australian Open, Li became the first woman from China to win a WTA singles event. Since then, she has three third-place finishes in Grand Slam events.
Li is the last woman standing among China's four entries in the tournament. Zheng Jie (郑洁), hot off a run to the Wimbledon semifinals, lost in the third round of the singles tournament to Russia's Safina (6-4, 6-3), the sixth ranked player in the world.
Alize Cornet of France dispatched Peng Shuai (彭帅) in the second round, and Yan Zi (晏紫) was the first of the Chinese women to be knocked out, losing in the first round to Vera Zvonareva (Russia).
Zheng gets a chance to avenge her loss when she and Yan, face Safina and Svetlana Kuznetsova in the doubles quarterfinal on Friday, August 15. The Chinese pair got there by beating a Swiss duo, 6-3; 7-6(2).
On the men's side, China has been much less competitive. Xu Xinyuan, Sun Peng and Zeng Shaoxuan all lost in short matches—55 minutes for Xu, 1 hour 6 minutes for Zeng and 1 hour and 7 minutes for Sun. Zeng and Xu also played doubles, losing in the first round.
Related: China's upset-minded tennis team gets its draws
Li Na image: 163.com
Tags: Beijing Olympics, Li Na, Olympics, Peng Shuai, tennis, Venus Williams, Yan Zi, Zheng Jie
A day at the Olympics: Tennis, water polo and beach volleyball
Wednesday, 13th August 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
The Olympics is a couple dozen world-class sporting events rolled into one. Here's my report on a day spent soaking up as much of it as possible.8:30 a.m. I run into an old water polo teammate on the Line 10 subway. She has an extra ticket for the afternoon session, which she gives to me. This might be my only chance to see water polo, one of my favorite sports.
9:50 a.m. Get off the subway at the supposed Line 8 transfer point. We follow signs for Line 8 that actually lead us to a security line to get into the Olympic Green—does Line 8 actually exist?
We get in the security line and a volunteer who noticed our tickets pulls us out to tell us that we need to take a bus to get to the tennis.
10:10 a.m. We arrive at the tennis venue, after a ride past the Water Cube and Bird's Nest. I noticed some sponsors' tents, looking a little empty. I've heard that sponsors are a little miffed that only ticket holders are allowed into the Olympic Green (a huge area containing eight venues). They were hoping for more foot traffic.
Zheng Jie in the second round of women's tennis singles
10:30 a.m. Peng Shuai's match with Alize Cornet of France begins at Center Court. Peng is not playing great, and loses 6-2, 6-2. But luckily our tickets give us access to all of the venue's courts, so more tennis awaits.
1:00 p.m. We move from Center Court to No. 1 Court, where Zheng Jie is playing Nuria Llagostera Vives of Spain. It's the best tennis match that I have ever seen live, with beautiful shots from both players, great effort to chase down balls and at least one deuce in almost every set. The crowd is enthusiastic, maybe a little too much so. Despite regular requests from officials, they never really get the message that tennis culture calls for quiet while each point is being played. With a great boost from the home crowd, the under-rated Zheng wins in three sets that take more than three hours to play.
4:00 p.m. I head to the Olympic bus depot hoping to find an easy shuttle ride to the water polo venue. None of the volunteers seem to know how to get there, so I make my best guess and hop on the bus line 5. It gets me there slowly, and I still have a pretty good walk from the bus to Ying Tung Natatorium.
4:40 p.m. I arrive at the water polo in time to see the second half of play between two of the world's best men's teams, Serbia and Croatia. Croatia wins, 11-8.
China men's water polo lost to Germany, 6-5
5:00 p.m. I watch a surprisingly good Chinese men's team play Germany in the last water polo game of the afternoon. Water polo is new to China, but its teams are improving fast. China's goalie plays great, but the team seems exhausted in the last quarter. China loses, 6-5.
6:45 p.m. I arrive, via subway and taxi, at the beach volleyball venue in Chaoyang Park. It's beautiful from the outside and rockin' on the inside. In addition to the great athleticism on display, the crowd is going nuts over the blaring party music and the bikini-clad dancers who entertain twice for every match played. Beers for 5 RMB do their part to add to the party atmosphere. We get to see a total of six matches, lasting until midnight and including the Chinese duo of Zhang Xi (张希) and Xue Chen (薛晨), who defeat their German opponents.
10:30 I have my second random collision with a friend who doesn't live in China. Charley Walters, a friend from college, has flown in from Los Angeles to watch the games. He has been to the last five Olympics and is blogging about his trip at Olympics or Bust. Just how much of a party is the beach volleyball tournament? Check out his video below.
12:00 a.m. I go home exhausted after three events in three venues, with four competitions featuring Chinese athletes.
Tags: beach volleyball, Beijing Olympics, tennis, water polo, Xue Chen, Zhang Xi, Zheng Jie, 张希, 薛晨
China's upset-minded tennis team gets its draws
Thursday, 7th August 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
One of the last sports to determine its Olympic matchups, tennis finally held its draw Thursday night at the Swissotel in Beijing. China's best shot at a tennis medal is on the women's side where, despite lacking a player among the top 25 in the world, it has the maximum four players, all with the potential to pull off upsets.Zheng Jie (郑洁), the hottest name in Chinese tennis and the team's highest ranked player (38), will face Agnes Szavay (14, Hungary) in her first match. The two also played in the fourth round of Wimbledon earlier this year, with Zheng winning 6-3, 6-4.
Li Na 李娜 (43) plays Svetlana Kuznetsova (3, Russia); Peng Shuai 彭帅 (50) will face Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro (55); and Zheng's doubles partner Yan Zi 晏紫 (52) is matched up with Vera Zvonareva (11, Russia).
For highlights and interviews with these women, check out CST's tennis playlist on Youtube (below).
Zheng and Yan are a force in doubles, having won Wimbledon and The Australian Open in 2006. The pair open up against Daniela Hantuchova and Janette Husarova of Slovakia.
On the men's side, China's Sun Peng faces Fernando Gonzales of Chile. Yu Xinyuan, who got a spot in the tournament after Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany withdrew due to injury, will play Argentina's David Nalbandia.
Tennis play begins Sunday, August 10.
Related: China's Zheng making tennis history
Zheng's Wimbledon run continues
Zheng in Wimbledon quarterfinals (after Szavay match)
Zheng loses in Wimbledon semis
Tags: Beijing Olympics, Li Nan, Peng Shuai, Sun Peng, tennis, Xu Xinyuan, Yan Zi, Zheng Jie
Why is Anna Kournikova on the cover of SI China?
Tuesday, 22nd July 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (4)
"寻找库娃 (Searching for Kournikova)"
Anna Kournikova is pretty, and so is SI China (体育画报). But the only thing harder than finding a media kiosk in Beijing that sells the magazine is finding Kournikova on a tennis court. With the Olympics countdown clocks all over the capital now inside of 20 days, is it really time for a "Where are they now?" story? The cover line reads: "Searching for Kournikova." Even in a country of 1.3 billion people, it's pretty safe to say that no one is.
Our simple theory: The intended cover boy or girl pulled out at the last minute. Someone at SI China suggested using its US sister magazine's Rafael Nadal shots for the cover. But the boss pointed out that SI China's runaway best-selling issue is the swimsuit issue, so the art department called the US office asking for the next best thing. Thus did an irrelevant athlete appear on newsstands amidst China's countdown to its most exciting sports moment.
The guy who we buy our magazines from in Beijing's Central Business District keeps it simple. Here's a translation of our conversation with him:
CST: What is she doing on the cover?
News guy: What sport does she play? Is she in the Olympics?
CST: She plays tennis. And she's not good.
News guy: She doesn't have to be good. She's pretty! Don't forget your Titan [sports newspaper].
Thank you, SI, for bringing to China the best in sports media.
Tags: Anna Kournikova, SI China, sports media, tennis
Zheng loses in Wimbledon semis
Friday, 4th July 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
When Zheng had the serve, she managed to keep Serena playing along the baseline for much of the time. But Serena punched through 14 aces, compared to none for Zheng.
As Zheng Jie leaves competition until August, here's a look at some of the better pieces that have been done on her over the past few days:
From Wimbledon.org, on why Zheng's success is not as much of a surprise as you might think: Zheng and the art of ankle maintenance
From the New York Times, on how Zheng's success makes a case against China's system of selecting athletes based on physiological formulas: Chinese Tennis No Longer Overlooks Zheng
From the LA Times: Zheng is fun to watch, but why?
Image: Wimbledon.org
Tags: tennis, Wimbledon, Zheng Jie
China's Zheng Making Tennis History
Wednesday, 2nd July 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
Zheng, a Chengdu native, has said she will donate the portion of her winnings that does not go to the CTA (Chinese Tennis Association) to Sichuan earthquake relief efforts. Her prize money will be at least $390,000.
It's not surprising that she is playing this deep into the tournament. The surprise is that she's still alive in the singles draw. Zheng won doubles at Wimbledon and the Australian Open with her partner Yan Zi (晏紫) in 2006, but she's never gotten past the fourth round in a Grand Slam as a singles player.
"The CTA focuses on doubles. Anything that comes with singles is a bonus," Tom McCarthy, president of Beijing International Group (BIG), told China Sports Today. BIG is the sports marketing firm that represents Zheng and the CTA. "Playing singles was supposed to get her in shape for the Olympics," McCarthy said. She's getting in shape, alright, chasing down shots from players half a foot taller than her (Zhang is only 5-foot-4 1/2) and upsetting world No. 1 Ana Ivanovic (6-foot-2 inches tall), Agnes Szavay (seeded 15th) and Nicole Vaidisova (seeded 18th).
Zheng and Yan were knocked out of doubles contention Monday.
Zheng has made some adjustments to her serve, under the tutelage of husband Zhang Yu, who coaches in China's men's program. "She changed it to a style that's more similar to how the men serve," McCarthy says. "That's been one of the major factors in her wins."
With her size disadvantage, Zheng is physiologically unable to get the same power in her serve that six-footers can, but she consistently puts the ball right where she wants it, on the back line. With the grass courts at Wimbledon keeping the ball low, she is able to force her taller opponents to reach down for her groundstrokes and play along the baseline.
Throughout the tournament, Zheng has demonstrated great calm and composure. You won't see her throwing her racket in frustration, and her signature celebration is a restrained pump of her fist. But she has also shown herself to be a fighter, coming back against more athletic players. On Monday, she overcame a 4-1 deficit to win the second set and yesterday, she saved six break points in the first.
"She doesn't give an inch. Her mentality is very level but her heart is very big," McCarthy says. "Whenever she had a little gap there, and it looked like she was in trouble, she found a way to stay in it."
Zheng's surge comes at a time when the CTA is stepping up its promotion of the game on the mainland. It recently secured Mercedes as the sponsor for a yourth development program called "Swing for the Stars," with clinics for players under 13 years old in Beijing, Guangzhou, Inner Mongolia, Sichuan and Nanjing. Through the program, the CTA will select 10 kids to go to a camp at the United States Tennis Academy.
Wimbledon is getting good coverage in China, with games airing live not only via satellite on Star Sports and on cable's CCTV Golf and Tennis Channel, but also on local networks like Beijing's B-TV, Shanghai's SMG Sports and local stations in some provinces. Between the sets in China that will be tuned in to watch Zheng and the audience Serena will attract from all over the globe, there should be a lot of eyes on Zheng's next match. The two faced each other in 2004, with Serena winning in straight sets.
"With Serena, now you're talking apples and oranges with the rest of them," McCarthy says. "The power, speed and versatility of her game will be a real challenge. This is a 100-to-1 shot, not a 10-to-1 shot."
Images:
Wimbledon.org
Chinese Tennis Association
Tags: Chinese Tennis Association, tennis, Wimbledon, Yan Zi, Zheng Jie
First and First: Zheng's Wimbledon Run Continues
Wednesday, 2nd July 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
First wild card to reach the singles semifinals at Wimbledon; first Chinese player to reach the singles semis at Wimbledon. Zheng Jie's latest win gave her both of those titles. She beat Hungary's Nicole Vaidisova 6-2, 5-7, 6-1, moving on to a showdown with Serena Williams in the semis.When Zheng won her third-round match against Ana Ivanovic, media coverage was more about Ivanovic's surprising loss than Zheng's win. Case in point, this story: Still growing into No. 1 status.
It was as if the 24-year-old from Sichuan had luckily happened on a vulnerable and overconfident new champ in Ivanovic. That may be true, but by winning her next two matches, Zheng has firmly declared that she is not just a footnote in Ivanovic's rise to the top of the tennis world. Her story now has weight in its own right—and it is one of only four that will continue to play out in England this week.
Tags: tennis, Wimbledon, Zheng Jie
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