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Chinese soccer flops at HK Games
Source: Agencies |
December 10, 2009, Thursday
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CHINESE soccer suffered yet another humiliation this week when the national under-21 team failed to get out of the group stage at the East Asian Games.
A 1-0 victory over China's Hong Kong on Tuesday was not enough to prevent the defending champion from bowing out of the six-team soccer tournament on goal difference before the knockout stage.
China lost 0-1 to South Korea on Sunday and needed to beat China's Hong Kong by at least three goals after the Koreans lost 1-4 to the hosts.
The failure to progress can only increase the existing perception among many Chinese that their national soccer team is a joke, and further fuel calls for reform of the domestic game from top government officials.
"We are concerned about the mental health of our audience," a popular commentator from state-run CCTV joked to Chengdu Business Daily when asked why Tuesday's game had not been broadcast in China.
China fell early in Asian qualifying for next year's World Cup in South Africa and the under-23 team failed to win a game at the Beijing Olympic Games last year.
Apart from soccer, China is enjoying great success in Hong Kong and led the medals table after day four of the quadrennial games.
Elsewhere, Chinese women and Japanese men split the eight gold medals in swimming yesterday.
After four days in the pool, Japan holds a slight lead with 17 golds to China's 15.
China won in all four women's events - the 100-meter backstroke, the 400 freestyle, the 200 breaststroke and the 4x100 freestyle relay. World championship bronze medalist Gao Chang set an East Asian Games record of 59.77 seconds in the 100 meters backstroke.
The Japanese men won the 50 breaststroke, the 100 freestyle, the 100 butterfly and the 100 backstroke, with world championship silver medalist Ryosuke Irie setting a games record of 52.76 seconds in the last event.
The Chinese and Japanese extended their rivalry to the volleyball court, with the two countries facing off in both the men's and women's gold medal matches yesterday.
China narrowly won the men's final 3-2 but won the women's final 3-0 later in the day.
Elsewhere, Japan sewed up men's tennis gold, with both Tatsuma Ito and Yuichi Sugita winning their semifinals.
Chinese and Chinese Taipei pairings moved into the men's doubles final. Chinese Taipei and South Korean teams won in the women's doubles semifinals.
In squash, China's Hong Kong continued its domination, clinching gold in the men's and women's team competitions by beating Japan 2-0 in both finals, adding to its golds in men's and women's singles.
In weightlifting, Pak Hyon Suk of North Korea won the women's 63-kilogram title and Kim Kwang-hoon of South Korea took out the men's 77-kilogram category.
Lu Yong of China was the champion in the men's 85-kilogram category.
A 1-0 victory over China's Hong Kong on Tuesday was not enough to prevent the defending champion from bowing out of the six-team soccer tournament on goal difference before the knockout stage.
China lost 0-1 to South Korea on Sunday and needed to beat China's Hong Kong by at least three goals after the Koreans lost 1-4 to the hosts.
The failure to progress can only increase the existing perception among many Chinese that their national soccer team is a joke, and further fuel calls for reform of the domestic game from top government officials.
"We are concerned about the mental health of our audience," a popular commentator from state-run CCTV joked to Chengdu Business Daily when asked why Tuesday's game had not been broadcast in China.
China fell early in Asian qualifying for next year's World Cup in South Africa and the under-23 team failed to win a game at the Beijing Olympic Games last year.
Apart from soccer, China is enjoying great success in Hong Kong and led the medals table after day four of the quadrennial games.
Elsewhere, Chinese women and Japanese men split the eight gold medals in swimming yesterday.
After four days in the pool, Japan holds a slight lead with 17 golds to China's 15.
China won in all four women's events - the 100-meter backstroke, the 400 freestyle, the 200 breaststroke and the 4x100 freestyle relay. World championship bronze medalist Gao Chang set an East Asian Games record of 59.77 seconds in the 100 meters backstroke.
The Japanese men won the 50 breaststroke, the 100 freestyle, the 100 butterfly and the 100 backstroke, with world championship silver medalist Ryosuke Irie setting a games record of 52.76 seconds in the last event.
The Chinese and Japanese extended their rivalry to the volleyball court, with the two countries facing off in both the men's and women's gold medal matches yesterday.
China narrowly won the men's final 3-2 but won the women's final 3-0 later in the day.
Elsewhere, Japan sewed up men's tennis gold, with both Tatsuma Ito and Yuichi Sugita winning their semifinals.
Chinese and Chinese Taipei pairings moved into the men's doubles final. Chinese Taipei and South Korean teams won in the women's doubles semifinals.
In squash, China's Hong Kong continued its domination, clinching gold in the men's and women's team competitions by beating Japan 2-0 in both finals, adding to its golds in men's and women's singles.
In weightlifting, Pak Hyon Suk of North Korea won the women's 63-kilogram title and Kim Kwang-hoon of South Korea took out the men's 77-kilogram category.
Lu Yong of China was the champion in the men's 85-kilogram category.
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