China's basketball governing body, the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA), will make qualifying for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games its top priority for 2023, according to the association's general assembly held on Tuesday in Qingdao, East China's Shandong Province.
"China's men's and women's basketball teams will fight for their berths at the Paris Olympic Games this year. China's men's and women's 3x3 teams will also try to qualify for the Paris Olympics via their world rankings in November. As to the Hangzhou Asian Games, China will endeavor to win all four of the basketball titles up for grabs," Yao Ming, president of the CBA, said at the meeting.
Yao placed emphasis on China's men's team, which is set to participate in the Basketball World Cup in August. The Asian team that finishes first in the World Cup rankings will have its tickets punched for the Paris Olympic Games. The other Asian teams at the World Cup include Japan, Jordan, Iran, Lebanon and the Philippines. China is joined by South Sudan, Serbia and Puerto Rico in Group B of the World Cup. The top two teams from each group will advance to the second round. The bottom two teams will then play two classification games to determine the rankings.
Su Qun, one of the best-known basketball commentators in China, told the Global Times that setting the goal of qualifying for Paris Olympic Games is well within expectations.
"China's men's team should aim at advancing to the second round in the World Cup. That will make our qualification for the Olympics more convincing," said Su.
Meanwhile, the association has resolved to crack down on passive competition, match-fixing, gambling, on-court violence and anti-doping violations in an effort to restore a healthy basketball environment and promote the development of Chinese basketball.
In April, CBA league teams the Shanghai Sharks and Jiangsu Dragons were disqualified from the 2022-23 season for "being passive in competition" during a CBA playoff game.
In March, the Xinjiang Flying Tigers made a U-turn on whether to participate in the league following a contract dispute with player Zhou Qi.
"The CBA's reputation has been dented due to recent controversies. These moves are set to put the CBA back on track. It is also in line with the strategy initiated by the General Administration of Sport to revitalize China's soccer, basketball and volleyball," Su noted.
Yao also revealed that the CBA is planning a regional competition with the East Asia Basketball Association, hoping to bring clubs from China, Japan, South Korea and Mongolia on board.
Star hurdler Wu Yanni finished her FISU Games campaign with a sensational 12.76 seconds in the women's 100 meters hurdles, winning a silver medal for China.
At the Shuangliu Sports Centre Stadium in Chengdu, capital of Southwest China's Sichuan Province, Wu, a Sichuan-born athlete who is now studying at Beijing Sports University, became the top star of the night.
"I have broken my personal best twice today. I think the main reason lies not in me but the overwhelming support I have received," Wu told the Global Times.
"Competing at home makes me more relaxed and gives me more impetus rather than pressure."
Wu was born in Zigong, a southern Sichuan city, and started her hurdling career in neighboring city Neijiang.
Wu had renewed a short-lived personal best of 12.86 seconds in the semifinals, 0.01 seconds better than her previous set in 2021, before shaving off another 0.1 seconds in the final.
The result is enough for her to qualify for the Paris Olympics, as the result surpassed the 12.77-second entry requirement.
"It is my love of the hurdles that allows me to go through all the difficulties," Wu said.
"I also hope my enthusiasm for the sport can inspire more young people to feel the glamour of Chinese athletics and get out of their own comfort zone."
Wu's teammate Lin Yuwei of East China Normal University finished in fifth place in the final with 13.03 seconds.
Wu's result of 12.76 seconds in the final has also surpassed the qualifying benchmark for the world athletics championships which will be held from August 19 to 27 in Budapest, Hungary, but the result came too late for the worlds.
"I always believe that we Chinese female hurdlers are the best," Wu said after the race.
"I don't mean to say I will win a medal for China at the Asian Games, but I will do my best and progress little by little."
The Asian Games will be held in Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province from September 23 to October 8.
Taking after China's athletics great Liu Xiang, who won an Olympics 110 meters hurdles gold medal in 2004 in Athens, Wu has set her sights on becoming a female hurdling star.
"I want to become the woman that makes people know about women's 100 meters hurdles," Wu told reporters. "I want Chinese female hurdlers to appear on the international stage more often. It doesn't matter whether it's me or any other female athletes to do so."
Wu points to the sky every time she hits the track, prompting many netizens online to copy her gesture.
"The gesture is cool and fits me well I think. It means I have set my goals for the Paris Olympics," Wu told reporters.
Wu also spoke about the recent evacuation and rescue efforts in northern China, which has been hit by torrential rains and floods.
"My achievement belongs to every Chinese," Wu told reporters. "I hope people impacted by the floods will come back safe as well as everyone who made efforts to alleviate the disaster."
Viktoria Forster of Slovakia won the gold medal with a personal best of 12.72 seconds. The bronze medal went to Jyothi Yarraji of India who finished in 12.78 seconds.
Yarraji thanked China for allowing her to qualify for the Paris Olympics.
"Thank you so much, China. It was a wonderful competition that makes me able to qualify for the Olympics," Yarraji told reporters, before noting she will come back to China for the Asian Games in September.
Other achievements of the night came from Sarah Keskitalo, representing Finland but was born in China, setting a personal best of 13.17 seconds in the semifinal.
Racing back-to-back in an intensive competition schedule often creates extreme fatigue for athletes, but several Chinese track and field stars are shrugging off this issue.
The Chinese national athletics team did not achieve what they were expecting at the Budapest world championships in August, bagging only two bronze medals thanks to two female athletes, Feng Bin in the women's discus throw and Gong Lijiao in the women's shot put.
Feng, who finished in third place at the world championships with a career second-best of 68.20 meters, is among the Chinese athletes taking on high-profile events one after another, from the 2022 World Athletics Championships in August to the Diamond League event over the weekend, followed by the Asian Games to be hosted by China.
The 28-year-old, who clinched her third career best at the Diamond League in Xiamen, East China's Fujian Province, with a sensational last throw of 67.41 meters to defeat Croatia's title contender Sandra Perkovic and newly crowned world champion, US' Laulauga Tausaga, said that the result boosted her confidence of doing better at the upcoming Asian Games.
"My best form sometimes comes at the late stage during the competition," Feng told reporters after the Diamond League race. "It's an honor to win a title on home soil.
"My goal at the Asian Games is to make some breakthroughs for myself, as I believe everything is possible in athletics," Feng said, before noting that she hopes to set a new personal best at the Asian Games.
Feng's current personal best sits at 69.12 meters, which was set at the 2022 World Athletics Championships where she won the gold medal.
At the Asian Games in 2018, she won a silver medal with a 64.25-meter throw. Currently the Asian Games' record sits at 66.18 meters, set by Feng's compatriot Li Yanfeng during the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province.
Sprinting hopes
Sprinter Xie Zhenye, who has been pinned as China's hopes in the men's 100-meter sprint after trailblazer Su Bingtian decided to sit out in 2023 due to an injury, finished in eighth place with a time of 10.12 seconds in a 10-man race.
In a fiercely competitive sprint race, 30-year-old Xie faced several elite sprinters, including 2011 world champion Yohan Blake, 2019 world champion Christian Coleman, 2022 world champion Fred Kerley, and Tokyo Olympics gold medalist Marcell Jacobs.
Xie however said that he is aiming for the gold medal at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province.
"I fell behind at the beginning of the race when competing with these elites," Xie told reporters after Coleman won the race in 9.83 seconds. "As we continue to troubleshoot, I still have nearly a month to hone my skills for the Asian Games."
Xie, who is a Zhejiang native, said his goal at the Asian Games is to win the championship at hometown.
"The Asian Games is vital for me as it is being held in my hometown. Participating in the Diamond League competition could activate my best form for the Asian Games," Xie noted.
Xia Sining, who became an online sensation, clocked in at 13.19 seconds in the women's 100 meters hurdles. Her season was beleaguered by injuries as they prevented the star athlete to progress.
"Athletes are no stranger to injuries," 20-year-old Xia told reporters. "But we need to figure out ways of how to alleviate it and avoid injuries in the first place."
When asked about the online attention she receives, she said the only way is to channel pressure into motivation.
"Athletics is not only about winning championships however, but also gives returns to everyone who loves the sport passionately," Xia said.
"I just train when I need to train as it is a competitive sport, to turn the pressure outside of the field into motivation," said Xia, who is training with Sun Haiping, the man who ensured hurdles star Liu Xiang's rise to fame two decades ago.
However, Xia will not compete for China at the Asian Games, as her current personal best, 13.14 seconds, is shy of leading athletes Wu Yanni and Lin Yuwei's times as they have broken the 13-second barrier.
Wu skipped Saturday's race and Lin won the event by clocking in at 13.00 seconds. Lin has also eyed the upcoming Asian Games for a better performance.
"I will bring my all effort to the coming Asian Games," Lin said after the race, before paying tribute to teammate Ge Manqi, a 100 meters sprint specialist from Fujian, for soldiering on through the tough times.
"We have been encouraging each other through the common difficulties we have faced this year. Hopefully we will give a better performance at the Asian Games," Lin said.
More to come
Xiamen is no stranger to athletics as the city's annual marathon race is considered one of the most picturesque races, attracting thousands of participants every year.
The Diamond League race held in Xiamen on Saturday marked its debut in the coastal city, as Xiamen will play host to the Diamond League for 10 consecutive seasons.
The debut of the Xiamen Egret Stadium, the venue of the Diamond League and a return of the prestigious athletics event to China after a three-year hiatus, witnessed nearly 30,000 spectators in attendance at the 53,405-seat stadium, according to event organizers.
US sprinter Kerley was impressed by the design of the stadium and the surrounding view, saying it would be great to see Xiamen hosting an athletics world championship.
Xiamen will also host the 2027 Asian athletics championships.
The women's discus winner Feng said she is looking forward to seeing more top-tier international athletics events held in China.
"The more top-level international events held in China, the more chances we can compete with other internationally high-level athletes," Feng said.
"This could facilitate exchanges between Chinese track and field athletes and the international counterparts."
Both competing in the last subdivision of the day, the men's team and the women's team of artistic gymnastics of Team China gave their home crowd performances worth waiting, both bagging gold medals.
On Monday night, an enthusiastic crowd filled the Huanglong Sports Centre Gymnasium and burst into biggest cheers and applaud for the girls of the Chinese team. With a very young squad aged from 15 to 22, the girls snatched a team gold medal despite a few glitches during the beam competitions.
"Even if there were various degrees of faults during the competition, everybody has worked hard and adjusted out mindset," 15-year-old Zhang Xinyi said to the reporters after the game. "We were able to adapt quickly and get ready for the next events."
Zhang also credited their victory to the team and the crowd. "The audience was very enthusiastic, cheering us on," she said.
The team compiled the top team scores on each of the four apparatuses. After the match, the team dedicated their victory to team spirit and perseverance.
Japan ranked closely behind China, while North Korea snatched bronze.
During the competition, the members of the Chinese team and the members of the Japanese team displayed a warm and friendly attitude to each other, cheering for the other team's athletes when they were switching apparatuses.
Speaking to the Global Times, Zhang said that they would like to encourage each other even if it was a competition.
"Whilst in the match, we both cheered each other on. We respect each other," she told the Global Times.
"Even if we're from different countries, we can cheer each other on," Japan's Mikako Serita told the Global Times. "The Chinese gymnasts were waving at us and we felt the friendly vibe."
"To put it simply, I think gymnastics is a great sport," she said.
Earlier on Sunday night, China's men's team also finished with gold, while Japan and Chinese Taipei were silver and bronze medalists.
"Our preparations were actually very thorough, but we still encountered some difficulties," said Xiao Ruoteng of Team China.
Xiao credited the enthusiastic crowd for inspiring and empowering his team. "We felt the audience cheering us on, and it felt like there was still a strong force behind us pushing us forward," he added.
The artistic gymnastics team finals also served as qualification games for the all-around and apparatus finals. During Monday's competitions, veteran gymnast Oksana Chusovitina also earned the loudest cheers from the crowd.
The 48-year-old eight-time-Olympian performed well enough to qualify for the vault apparatus final. She blew a kiss and showed a heart-shape with her arms to the supporting Chinese audience.
"As long as I enjoy gymnastics, I don't know when I will finish," Chusovitina said after the game, expressing her love for the sport.
Amateurs proved prominent during the opening round of the Mitsubishi Electric FA Golf Open in Suzhou, East China’s Jiangsu Province, on Thursday. Hong Kong SAR’s Alexander Yang and Chongqing’s Zhou Yanhan each carded a six-under 66 to share the early lead with veteran Yuan Tian.
Chinese players Jin Daxing, Huang Zijie, Luo Xuewen, Liu Enhua, Sun Yan, and Wu Di were a shot off the pace at the event taking place at Suzhou Taihu International Golf Club.
Zhou, the 15-year-old son of Tour player Zhou Xunshu, turned it on late in his round when he carded five birdies over the last seven holes to grab a share of the lead.
“I didn’t hit it solid for the whole round, but my putter was hot. I made four putts from 15 feet. I missed some putts on the front nine, but I kept my patience,” said the teenager who won last year’s Chongqing Open against a pro field.
Yang, who earlier this year became the first Hong Kong man to play in the US Open, started his round on the back nine, carding three birdies and two bogeys to make the turn at one-under.
“Today was a great start. I think I did most things pretty well,” said Yang, who is currently on leave from Stanford University. “I’m still getting used to the grass here. It’s definitely unique and different from what I’m accustomed to in the US. I made a couple of bogeys and mistakes here and there but otherwise I played really solid.”
Yuan, a 41-year-old veteran who continues to chase his first China Tour win after 18 years as a pro, carded his best round of the year on the strength of seven birdies and a lone bogey in his early morning start that began on the back nine.
Artists from China and Uzbekistan wrapped up their concert on a high note on Tuesday in Qingdao, East China's Shandong Province.
The concert was dedicated to commemorating the fifth anniversary of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Qingdao Summit, promoting cultural exchanges among Belt and Road Initiative partner countries and strengthening cooperation between SCO partner countries.
The concert, featuring renowned singers and conductors from China and Uzbekistan, was held in four Chinese cities - Lanzhou, Xining, Xi'an and Qingdao - from Friday to Tuesday, offering an artistic feast for local music lovers.
Rustam Abdullaev, chairman of the Union of Composers and Bastakors of Uzbekistan, told the Global Times that "the kind and hard-working characteristics of people in China and Uzbekistan give us a lot in common in music."
One work was jointly performed by artists from China and Uzbekistan. Based on the distinctive music of China and Uzbekistan, the symphony celebrates the friendship and shows that in the context of jointly building the Belt and Road Initiative, China and Eurasian countries are committed to creating a better future.
A series of international winter sports events will be held in Beijing in the upcoming weeks as the host city of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics continues to enjoy a stellar Olympic legacy.
As the 2023-24 ISU World Cup Speed Skating is scheduled to be held from November 17 to 19 at the National Speed Skating Oval, the city's competition venues for the Beijing 2022 Winter Games will once again welcome the world's elite athletes.
Li Yang, vice chief of China's winter sports governing body, said that the packed schedule for international winter sports events underlines a growing enthusiasm toward winter sports after the sensational Winter Olympics of 2022.
"The piling up of major competitions is a reflection of the utilization of the legacy of the Winter Olympics," Li told reporters at a news conference on November 14 ahead of the speed skating competition. "Winter sports have not lost their popularity since the Winter Olympics, but rather have become more popular."
The short track speed skating competition, a World Cup event under the International Skating Union, is set to be held at the Capital Indoor Stadium from December 8 to 10. It remains the most popular among the winter sports competitions set to be hosted in Beijing.
Tickets for the penultimate and ultimate days of the competition have been sold out since they were made available on November 13, according to Chen Jie, vice chief of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Sports.
The reason for this popularity may lie in China's star-studded competition line-up squad, which features naturalized Olympic champions Lin Xiaojun, as well as brothers Liu Shaolin and Liu Shaoang.
The 'fastest ice'
The National Speed Skating Oval has been hailed as the "fastest ice" due to its state-of-the-art ice rink conditions. It witnessed three new world records during the 2022 Olympics.
The ice rink has been regenerated for the first time since the Olympics.
Gao Tingyu, an Olympic gold medalist in the men's 500-meter speed skating category, has returned to compete after a 21-month-long hiatus due to a waist injury.
"This home game is a test of training over the last six months for not only me, but also the whole speed skating team," Gao told reporters, stressing that "though I am not in my best form, I will still do my best on the 'fastest ice.'"
As it is only weeks before the New Year, the competition schedule has had to contend with timing conflicts. The speed skating races will be held concurrently with the bobsleigh and skeleton World Cup at the National Sliding Centre in Beijing's suburb Yanqing, while the Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final will clash with the popular short track World Cup race.
Shen Xue, a former Olympic figure skating champion and now head of China's figure skating governing body, was once an athlete who competed at the Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final held in Beijing in 2004. She admitted that the figure skating national squad is currently in a slump and needs more support.
"In competitive sports, peaks and slumps are intertwined. Currently, figure skating is at a low ebb, but as time passes, I believe we will be back at the top," Shen said. Growing popularity
Hosting the Winter Olympics has not only ignited a passion for winter sports but has also left a lasting impact on the development of winter sports in China. Regions in southern parts of China, such as Chongqing and Shanghai, have already hosted skating competitions this year, exemplifying the concept of expanding winter sports from the traditional northern regions to the south.
Earlier this year, Harbin in the northeast won a bid to host the 2025 Asian Winter Games, which is expected to further fuel the popularity of winter sports in the region, and is considered to be the greenhouse of China's winter sports athletes. A new generation of athletes is emerging onto the scene, fuelled by the inspiration of witnessing the pinnacle of winter sports on home soil.
China has witnessed the involvement of 300 million people in ice and snow activities, resulting in a significant increase in participation in winter sports.
Domination by a younger demographic paves the way for broader talent development in China's winter sports, said Mao Jiale, a sports commentator based in Chengdu.
"Winter sports are no longer confined to the northern regions, as evidenced by the popularity of ice events in southern provinces," Mao told the Global Times. "The 300 million people committed to engaging in ice and snow activities have contributed to a surge in interest and participation, expanding the footprint of winter sports across the country."
Thanks to the growing popularity of winter sports, several southern provinces and regions, such as Sichuan, Chongqing, and Guangdong, have constituted their winter sports teams for the first time in history.
They are aiming to compete at the National Winter Games, which will be held in February 2024 in Hulun Buir in North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
The number of winter sports participants is expected to grow further, according to Mao.
"Hosting the Winter Olympics is just the starting point of China's rise in winter sports," Mao said. "The massive attention to winter sports thanks to the Beijing Olympics has energized a wide fan base across the country. The popularity will surely grow in the years to come."
The death toll from a strong earthquake that struck Morocco Friday night has risen to 820, said the country's Interior Ministry on Saturday.
The earthquake has also injured at least 672, according to the latest update from the ministry.
A 6.8-magnitude earthquake hit Morocco Friday at 11:11 p.m. local time (2211 GMT) at a depth of 18.5 km, said the U.S. Geological Survey.
The epicenter of the earthquake was near the town of Ighil in Al Haouz Province, some 70 km southwest of Marrakesh.
The earthquake was felt in many cities across Morocco, including Rabat and Casablanca. Many houses collapsed in the cities of Taroudant and Marrakesh, local media reported.
The earthquake damaged many buildings in the old city of Marrakesh, the nearest big city to the epicenter, and many residents had to spend the night in the open space for fear of potential aftershocks, said Zhang Kai, an overseas Chinese living in Marrakesh.
Xinhua correspondents at Ouarzazate, about 190 kilometers southeast of Marrakesh, saw residents taking shelter in an open space after the earthquake.
"There have been earthquakes before, but none of them were as strong as this one," said a resident in Ouarzazate who requires anonymity.
On the way from Ouarzazate to the epicenter, rocks and rubbles from the mountains and buildings were seen scattered along the road.
Rescuers have been sent to the quake-hit areas to search for survivors, local media reported.
One Chinese national has been killed and another injured, the Chinese Embassy in Thailand confirmed late Tuesday night after a shooting incident which left two dead and five injured at one of the most popular shopping malls in Thailand on Tuesday afternoon.
The embassy said it activated its emergency response mechanism to verify the situation in the wake of the incident and has confirmed the identities of the victims, adding that the injured individual has received medical treatment and remained in stable condition.
Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin visited the injured Chinese national at the hospital, the embassy confirmed. Both the prime minister and Parnpree Bahiddha-Nukara, the deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs, respectively made phone calls to Chinese Ambassador to Thailand Han Zhiqiang to express their condolences to the deceased Chinese national on behalf of the Thai government.
They vowed to quickly deal with the case to ensure a safe and reliable environment for the Chinese nationals in Thailand.
A chaotic scene unfolded at the Siam Paragon mall in Bangkok, Thailand on Tuesday afternoon as gunshots rang out near an upscale retail area. According to National Police Chief Torsak Sukvimol, at least two people were killed and five others injured in the shooting and the police has arrested the suspect, a 14 years old suffering from a mental illness.
On Wednesday, Thai Police filed five charges against the suspect, including intentional homicide, commission of homicide, unlawful possession of a firearm, carrying a firearm into a public place without authorization, and discharging a firearm in a public place without authorization.
Thai police said the other victim was from Myanmar and the four injured included a Laotian and three Thai people.
According to local media, the 34-year-old Chinese female surnamed Zhao was shot dead when walking through the Siam Paragon building. A Chinese netizen named “Chloe Wan” wrote on China’s Twitter-like social media platform Sina Weibo that the shooter began shooting at the female toilet on the second floor, killing her acquaintance and injuring her mother.
“Aunt Zhao is a nice person. We three families, including Zhao’s husband and twin daughters, travelled to Thailand together. I didn’t know how she was hurt. I only saw her fainted on the ground with blood flowing out of her mouth. Her five-year-old children didn’t know about this. They were staying with their dad,” wrote the netizen, as quoted by Shangyou News.
The hashtags including “A Chinese visitor shot dead in Siam Paragon” had received more than 290 million views and comments on Sina Weibo as of Wednesday morning, and some netizens have expressed safety concerns on travelling to Thailand.
In September, the Thai government announced a temporary tourist visa exemption scheme for Chinese and Kazakh travelers to boost tourism.
Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has conceded defeat in the country's landmark referendum on an Indigenous Voice to Parliament, and vowed continued efforts to address disadvantages faced by First Australians.
Speaking in Canberra on Saturday night hours after polls closed, Albanese said it was clear a majority of Australians had voted against changing the constitution to establish an Indigenous advisory body to the federal parliament.
"My fellow Australians, at the outset, I want to say that while tonight's result is not one that I had hoped for, I absolutely respect the decision of the Australian people and the democratic process that has delivered it," he said.
"I never imagined or indeed said that it would be easy. History told us that only eight out of 44 had done so," he said, adding that "and of course, when you do the hard things, when you aim high, sometimes you fall short. And tonight we acknowledge, understand and respect that we have."
In order to be successful, the "yes" vote needed to achieve a double majority, meaning more than 50 percent of Australia's 17.6 million enrolled voters as well as a majority in at least four of the country's six states needed to vote in favor of changing the constitution.
With 60 percent of votes counted by the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) as of 10 p.m. Australian Eastern Daylight Time (AEDT) (1100 GMT) on Saturday, 59 percent of Australians had voted "no", including a majority in all six states.
Albanese, an advocate of the Voice since it was first proposed in 2017, said it was time for Australians to come together to address disadvantages faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, including lower life expectancy and higher rates of incarceration, disease and suicide than the non-Indigenous population.
"A great nation like ours can and must do better for the First Australians," Albanese said.
"We intend as a government to continue to do what we can to close the gap, to do what we can to advance reconciliation, to do what we can to listen to the First Australians."
Peter Dutton, the leader of the opposition Coalition parties and a leading campaigner for the "no" vote - said the result was "good for our country."
"The Coalition, local Australians, wants to see Indigenous disadvantage addressed. We just disagree on the Voice being the solution," he said in a speech to a campaign event, "and while Yes and No voters may hold differences of opinion, these opinions of difference do not diminish a love for our country or our regard for each other."
