The badminton head coach Li Yongbo recently said, ‘I think five isn’t to much to expect’ when asked how many gold medals he’s expecting this summer in Beijing. The Brit pair Gail Emms and Nathan Robertson, both in their 30s are still competing, not sure they’ll be around in 2012 when London is the host for the summer game.
Archive for Celestial Empire
We played baseball
Baseball or softball isn’t a foreign sport, I played it in primary school in the middle 70s in Beijing, Zhongguancun Erxiao 中关村二小 as past of physical education, in our front yard. The positions weren’t as clearly defined as in MLB. Not sure Mao banned it. I enjoyed it a lot. To my dismay, once a class had to be canceled because US president Ford was to visit the Summer Palace and our school was at the corner of the route in Zhongguancun. Our school was even considering to ban few students (who always failed) from attending schools during the period. The article’s assertion that 150,000 people play seemed low, I played, so did my g/f who attended Qinghua University fm 1980-85 played as part of phy ed – two years basic and then one year specialized (两年基础体育课,然后一年专项体育课) – just to name two, and we weren’t athletes. One of my classmates played tennis at sport school in Sichuan, she gave it up once she moved to Beijing. At the time, late 70s, sports could not compete with A+ and getting into a top college. True that we played a lot of ping pong and badminton in China, but let’s face it, baseball is a slow sport, can be really boring. Despite the love I have for the game, but I have no patient to watch it, ice hockey and football are the spectator sport. Remember back in the autumn 1986, I was awaken by the sound of cheers, honking, beer bottle chattering on the street in the middle of the night. Ha, Mets just won. The following day, every one were talking about the Mets and its win. It still couldn’t move me to watch. One game per season is my max tolerance. When Jack was around, Golfer’s buddy, I did go to Central Park to play pick up game with him. First time, the team captain complained that he didn’t want a girl on his team. Jack told him, “too bad .. she waited for her turn ..” Grumpily, the huge guy took me. It turned out, I was pretty good at bat but a lousy fielder, :).
Sammy’s arsenal
From China with love.
Babolat (Nitro), a French brand but made in China: inconspicuous stylish and exquisitely made. Sammy is a hot head in finding the thing, “You can’t find this one in Hong Kong. I had to ask a friend of friend who got it for me in China.” 700 RMB, about US$100.
A pair of fake.
‘How can you tell?’ Easy, YY doesn’t even produce this model. Oh, the Chinese just made this up and paste YY on it? Sammy gave me the look, ‘dumb question. They counterfeit everything ..’ 🙂 it’s dumb, I was just thinking out loud without going thou my brain. 🙂 Are there any counterfeit tennis racquets??
A couple of real thing.
‘Paragon sells for about $250-$350. I bought them in HK for half the price.’ His fat blue bag has tons of goodies. He likes to have us try his new toy. Jordan loves to, even uses his during the competition. He offered me the Babolat yesterday. It felt good and I loved the look. He gave me the usual dirt look: omg, she missed the point again.. 🙂 .. I haven’t been to his club in Chinatown for a long time. Now that summer is almost over, he told me that the club meets on Mondays and Fridays. I’ll go, except the parking is bit hard. One less incentive was he likes to drag us to the 港式西餐, the HK style of Western food eatery. Sammy, can we pls have dinner at the real places, like either Chinese (since we’re in Chinatown) or Italian (little Italy is just around the corner) .. he’d gave me the dirt look, :).
Anna, Michelle, now Dream Girl
Anna K has long retired comfortably from tennis without winning a single title. Her career was so short, I didn’t even have a chance to practice her last name, Kournikova. When I goggle her on the net, all I have to do was type in Anna K. I got my girl. There is also a Michelle, with so much fanfare and firework, turned out the prodigy can’t even make it in the lady’s tour, LPGA. They all had huge endorsement contracts, with real money, not just some free clothing and equipments. I’m not privy to their contracts, but wondered do the advertisers put in some clause for protection, like you’ll get this level of $$$ only after you won X among of tourneys or reach certain ranking? It’s safe to say that their good looks have gotten them lucrative deals, made the advertisers being more than generous. (On this topic, I also often wondered, the look is part of you, then why when people taking that into consideration .. deemed shallow?)
Anyway, Tony called last night, asking donation on behave of Yuan Meng, saying she need financial help, that they are sleeping on the floor at the hotel, etc. (Doesn’t US hotels all equipped with either king size or 2 twins??? Does it cost less if you forgo bed?) According to Tony, the top 50 ranked players could make a comfortable living (it’s crucial that you’re able to remain at that level week in and week out), within 100 is no. Yuan’s highest rank was 92, and brief. He also mentioned that there are few tourneys held in Asia, mostly in US and Europe, hence it’s very expensive (travel expenses, jet-lag – earlier arrivals..) for the Chinese to break into the top rank. For their European peers, all they have to do was get into a car and drive there. Also marketing in China is not as mature as in the USA. Could all those obstacles be over come should the athlete has the talent, mental toughness plus gorgeous look, plus a savvy manager?
Lisa Raymond has turned pro in 1993, over the years, she has made $7m in prize money. I like her, but not many people know who she is, even she briefly held the #1 ranking back in 2000. Doubtfully she signed any lucrative endorsement deals that offered to Anna and Michelle. In any event, I’ll sponsor Yuan, questions aside.
.. .. Oh, their cute names. Yuan Meng, Yan Zi .. etc. Tony laughed.
“Most of them changed their names once you gain a little fame, you pick a new name. A common practice in China.” Just learned one more thing. He went on to say – actually I wondered myself – “most those athletes are from poor and under-educated families .. the rich kids don’t want, don’t have to sweat.”
Golf enthusiasts in a hole as China brands sport ‘green opium’
During difficult moments in talks on North Korea’s nuclear programme, China’s chief negotiator, Wu Dawei, sometimes slipped away to thrash out problems over a round of golf with his South Korean counterpart.
Such out-of-work encounters should come as no surprise. More than anywhere, golf is the Asian political and business networking sport of choice, and a staple of top-level dealmaking.
But Mr Wu’s games, disclosed to the Financial times by participants in the talks, have gone unpublicised in China, for good reason. Golf has a severe image problem in China, and no senior official would dare be caught playing the game in public.
.. ..
A senior official, Hao Heping, who had been in charge of government purchases of medical equipment, was recently convicted of taking bribes of about US$64,000 solely in the from of golf course memberships.
The deadpan report on his case by Xinhua, the official news agency, dryly noted that unlike other corrupt party members, Hao had not kept a mistress. “His only hobby was golf, and he traveled around the country to play with public funds or money taken in bribes, “ Xinhua reported.
.. ..
Katyusha
…. Most of the estimated 12,000-rocket inventory with which Hizbollah started the fighting are relatively crude Katyushas, with a 25-40km range.
… Reports FT.
Gosh, can’t believe the Katyushas are once again falling from the sky, big time. More than half a century ago, my Dad captained the army basketball team Katyushas in Beijing where he met my Mom who played forward. Many former K members are still keep in contact with one another, most of them are in Beijing and Shanghai! I spoke with few of them, for they know more about my parents than I do. So cool.
张鹰老战友
此照片是从黄维国自上海寄来的原版照片翻拍的.是咱们在《喀秋莎》球队时唯一的一张集团合影. 虽质量欠佳, 但留做纪念还是很有意义的. 这也是咱们军旅生涯中一个闪光点,很值得缅怀啊!
祝健康长寿!
老战友 张良弼 2006.1.11
曾记否 照片中《喀秋莎》球队十位球员的名字？ 他们是 着
…. Most of the estimated 12,000-rocket inventory with which Hizbollah started the fighting are relatively crude Katyushas, with a 25-40km range.
… Reports FT.
Gosh, can’t believe the Katyushas are once again falling from the sky, big time. More than half a century ago, my Dad captained the army basketball team Katyushas in Beijing where he met my Mom who played forward. Many former K members are still keep in contact with one another, most of them are in Beijing and Shanghai! I spoke with few of them, for they know more about my parents than I do. So cool.
张鹰老战友
此照片是从黄维国自上海寄来的原版照片翻拍的.是咱们在《喀秋莎》球队时唯一的一张集团合影. 虽质量欠佳, 但留做纪念还是很有意义的. 这也是咱们军旅生涯中一个闪光点,很值得缅怀啊!
祝健康长寿!
老战友 张良弼 2006.1.11
曾记否 照片中《喀秋莎》球队十位球员的名字? 他们是(着队服者)
前排左起 王景辉 张良弼 郑镜澄 阁下
后排左起 黄维国 法宏德 王义 马维庆 孟广茂 张绪林
照片的拍摄时间 地点 及比赛的对手我记不清了. 你能回忆起来吗?
笑纳 收后请赐一信 张良弼 2006.1.11
摄于一九五四年冬
黄维国 法宏德 王义 马维庆 孟广茂 张绪林
王景辉 张良弼 郑镜澄 张鹰
摄于一九五三年秋
与一0六通讯团赛后合
《喀秋莎》唯一全体队员
