Category: Sports

(Xinhua)14:43, May 10, 2019

A design picture of the National Speed Skating Oval for long-track speed skating in Beijing. [Provided to China Daily]

BEIJING – The official mascot for Chinas first-ever Winter Olympics will be unveiled in the second half of 2019, according to officials of the 2022 Beijing Organizing Committee of Winter Olympic Games (BOCWOG) here on Thursday.

In August 2018, the organizers launched a worldwide competition to design the mascots for the 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games. A total of 5,816 designs were submitted for further review, and 10 were shortlisted in January, 2019.

We will finalize the mascot design, and the mascot will be unveiled in the second half of this year after brand registration and IP protection work, said Xu Zhijun, BOCWOG Deputy Secretary.

Xu told Xinhua that the preparation work is so far going smoothly in terms of many aspects such as infrastructure construction projects.

Thursday marks the 1,000th day countdown to the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games, the first city to host both the Summer and Winter Olympics.

All venues are under construction or transformation according to original plan. For example, the National Alpine Skiing Center in Yanqing is set to be ready for test events by October this year.

The high-speed railway linking Beijing and Zhangjiakou, the co-host city of the Beijing 2022, will be operating this year, and the expressway between Beijings Yanqing and Zhangjiakous Chongli, the two competition zones of the Olympics, will also be set up this year.

Fifteen test events for the Olympics and five for the Paralympics, entitled Experience Beijing, will be arranged from February 2020 to the first half of 2021.

The first test event is the FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup on February 15-16, 2020, in Yanqing District of Beijing, setting a benchmark for the following test events.

We are working under the timetable to make sure the first test event a success, Xu Zhijun said.

The organizing committee has signed contracts with eight official partners and four official sponsors. The sales of franchising products have been popular both online and offline.

Besides preparation work, Beijing 2022 revealed its legacy plan for the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, which aims to keep the venues and facilities beneficial to the hosting cities even after the Games.

For example, the venues and Olympic village in Zhangjiakou will turn into Olympic park as permanent legacy, and hopefully become a world-renowned ski resort, said He Jianghai, also BOCWOG Deputy Secretary.

The organizing committee already finished the plans about volunteer recruitment and training sessions. An online recruitment website is under construction, and the volunteer recruitment program will be officially launched in December 2019 according to the preparation plan.

Also, the preparation work for opening and closing ceremonies are well underway.

(Xinhua)09:20, May 13, 2019

A commemorative activity related to winter sports and Olympic culture is held in Zhangjiakou, Hebei Province, on May 11, 2019. (Xinhua/Yang Shiyao)

BEIJING, May 11 (Xinhua) — With the official 1000-day countdown timer of the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games having been launched at Beijings iconic Olympic Park on Friday evening, various commemorative activities related to winter sports and Olympic culture were held across China on Saturday.

At Beijings Shijingshan District, where the 2022 Beijing Organizing Committee of Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games (BOCWOG) located, Gaojinglu community was named as the first Winter Olympic Community for its efforts in developing winter sports among the residents.

Supported by the community since 2018, people living in the area were provided with the chances to experience winter sports like skating and curling. Many have shown great interests and established their own teams.

In the Yanqing District, which serves as one of the three competition zones of Beijing 2022, lectures about the Games were taken into schools and students are learning more about Olympic culture through the course.

A commemorative activity related to winter sports and Olympic culture is held in Zhangjiakou, Hebei Province, on May 11, 2019. (Chinanews.com/Zhai Yuxin)

At Zhangjiakou competition zone in Hebei province, a video which tells the story of Zhangjiakou engaging in the bidding and preparing work of Beijing 2022 came to the public.

Except for Beijing and Hebei, other parts of China also engaged in the milestone moment of Beijing 2022. In Altay of northwestern Chinese Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, a skiing competition was held to promote Olympic culture in the area.

Altay has a long history of skiing as discoveries have shown that ancient people there already skied 12,000 years ago. In recent years, the local government has spent a lot of efforts in promoting winter sports, especially in schools. Over 9,000 students have benefited from a plan which aims to bring PE lessons to the skiing resorts.

(CNTV)11:06, May 13, 2019

China clinched a silver medal in the womens 4×200-meter final, creating an Asian record of 1:32.76 at the 2019 IAAF World Relay in Yokohama, Japan, on Sunday.

Despite strong line-ups Jamaica and the USA failed to grab the crown due to some worst exchanges.

Jamaica eventually claimed the bronze medal with 1:33.21, while the USA were disqualified because of a foul. France cruised to victory with 1:32.16, a world best this year.

The Chinese four (Liang Xiaojing, Wei Yongli, Kong Lingwei and Ge Manqi) performed well during the transient competition.

Liang and Wei handed over smoothly, and there was a deadly turnover of Jamaicas first-second baton handover which gave the top seed a slim winning chance. Chinas track position was relatively ahead, and inside-running France took a clear advantage. To the fourth baton, Ge Manqi kept the second till the end and nailed a silver medal for China.

(Xinhua)15:36, May 14, 2019

PARIS, May 13 (Xinhua) — The 23 players from the 2018 FIFA World Cup champions France will be awarded the Legion of Honor at the Elysee Palace on June 4, French sports newspaper LEquipe reported on Monday.

As their predecessors did following the 1998 World Cup victory, the 2018 world champions will receive the honor, which was granted by French President Emmanuel Macron during a reception following their return from Moscow on July 16, 2018.

The French team will train in Clairefontaine for the two Euro 2020 qualifiers on June 8 and 11. They will also play a friendly against Bolivia in Nantes on June 2, and be honored following their return.

The presentation of the Legion of Honor was initially scheduled on November 13, 2018, before being put off to a later date.

The 23 French title-winning footballers appeared among 345 Chevalier of the Legion of Honor receivers in an official list on January 1.

The teams coach Didier Deschamps, already honored as a player in 1998, will be elevated to Officer on the rank of the Legion of Honor.

(Xinhua)08:32, May 16, 2019

SEOUL, May 15 (Xinhua) — South Korea has withdrawn its bid to host the 2023 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup, giving China a free run to stage the quadrennial competition.

In a statement released on Wednesday, the Korea Football Association (KFA) said it had withdrawn its 2023 Asian Cup bid by sending a letter to the AFC earlier that day.

[The KFA] decided to drop the Asian Cup bid to strategically focus on the hosting of the 2023 FIFA Womens World Cup, KFA Secretary General Chun Han-jin said in the statement.

Chun said that both FIFA and the South Korean government will actively support the co-hosting of the 2023 Womens World Cup by South Korea and the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK).

The Chinese Football Association (CFA) filed its bid to host the 2023 AFC Asian Cup back in 2013.

With Indonesia and Thailand having previously withdrawn their hosting bids, it appears likely that the 2023 Asian Cup will be held in China, the only country still in the running to stage the tournament.

China last hosted the Asian Cup in 2004, reaching the final of that years tournament. At the most recent edition of the tournament earlier this year, China advanced to the quarterfinals, where they lost 3-0 to Iran.

The host nation for the 2023 Asian Cup will officially be announced on June 4.

(Xinhua)11:29, May 17, 2019

BEIJING, May 16 (Xinhua) — The Chinese Football Association (CFA) introduces the Hawk-Eye 3D Offside System to Chinese Super League (CSL), becoming the first country in Asia to implement one of the most advanced 3D offside technology used for VAR.

The 3D offside technology uses a third dimension to triangulate players body parts to ensure correct decisions, which will also improve clarity and credibility of those crucial game-changing ones. The VAR will have immediate access to this technology so that the decisions can be communicated with the referee, broadcasters and fans.

Specific offside cameras are currently being installed in each of the 15 CSL stadiums with expectations for the system to go live in June 2019.

Cui Enlei, Deputy Director of CFA Refereeing Department, said: It is a leading technology in the world, and were looking forward to creating a better future for Chinese Football with Hawk-Eyes VAR technology.

(Xinhua)09:43, May 20, 2019

Li Junhui/Liu Yuchen (L) of China compete during the mens doubles match between China and Malaysia in the group stage at Sudirman Cup 2019 in Nanning, south Chinas Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on May 19, 2019. China won with 5-0 in total. (Xinhua/Cao Yiming)

NANNING, May 19 (Xinhua) — Hot favourite China swept Malaysia 5-0 to start its Sudirman Cup campaign here on Sunday evening.

In the opening match, third-ranked Chinese Li Junhui and Liu Yuchen rallied from one set down to beat 14th-ranked Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik in the mens doubles 18-21, 21-14 and 24-22 in one hour.

Malaysias mens doubles are the young dark horse, they placed second in the All England Open. So we had full preparation, Chinas head coach Zhang Jun said. We held up ourselvese firmly despite lagging behind, and we made adjustment at the right moments to take the third and decisive set.

And Chen Yufei, the All England Open winner, also conceded one set before overcoming Cheah Solina 21-15, 21-23 and 21-14 in the womens singles, helping China enjoy a comfortable 2-0 lead in their Group 1D which also includes India.

Both my opponent and I had nice performance and the match was quite intense actually, said the No. 3 Chen, but I had full preparation for it.

The mens singles turned out to be a lopsided match as world No. 2 Shi Yuqi downed Lee Ziijia 21-12, 21-11 in 35 minutes to seal the win for China, before debutant Du Yue who paired with Li Yinhui, beat Vivian Hoo and Yap Cheng Wen 21-18, 21-14 in the womens doubles.

Top-ranked Huang Yaqiong and Zheng Siwei completed the rout by winning the mixed doubles 21-16, 21-12 over Lai Pei Jing and Tan Kian Meng, including a 55-shot rally in their second game to help the winning pair lead 14-6 for good.

After one-day rest, China will take on its second and last group rival India on Tuesday, while India meets Malaysia on Monday, to decide the top two sides advancing to the quarterfinals from the group.

The Sudirman Cup 2019 kicked off on Sunday, featuring 31 countries and regions in the biennial world mixed team championship which will run till May 26.

(Xinhua)08:04, May 23, 2019

FIFA on Wednesday shrugged off any possibility of expansion from 32 to 48 teams at the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.

On January 10, 2017, FIFA Council unanimously decided in favor of expanding the FIFA World Cup to a 48-team competition as of the 2026 edition, which will be co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico.

After being presented with a thorough feasibility study on the increase of the number of teams from 32 to 48 at the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, the FIFA Council acknowledged the studys conclusion that expanding the tournament to 48 teams was feasible during a meeting in Miami this March, provided that neighbouring countries hosted some matches with Qatar as the main host country.

In line with the conclusions of the feasibility study approved by the FIFA Council at its last meeting, FIFA and Qatar have jointly explored all possibilities to increase the number of participant teams from 32 to 48 teams by involving neighbouring countries at the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.

Following a thorough and comprehensive consultation process with the involvement of all the relevant stakeholders, it was concluded that under the current circumstances such a proposal could not be made now, FIFA said in a statement.

FIFA also noted that the two sides have once again explored the feasibility of Qatar hosting a 48-team tournament by in particular lowering certain key FIFA requirements.

A joint analysis, in this respect, concluded that due to the advanced stage of preparations and the need for a detailed assessment of the potential logistical impact on the host country, more time would be required and a decision could not be taken before the deadline of June, read the statement.

It was therefore decided not to further pursue this option.

The FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 will therefore remain as originally planned with 32 teams and no proposal will be submitted at the next FIFA Congress on June 5, it added.

The FIFA Congress will be held in Paris prior to the Womens World Cup France from June 7 to July 7.

(Xinhua)09:31, May 27, 2019

FUZHOU, China, May 26 (Xinhua) — Chinese boxer Xu Can succeeded in defending his World Boxing Association (WBA) featherweight title after defeating challenger Shun Kubo of Japan by technical knockout (TKO) at Xus hometown here on Sunday.

The 25-year-old Xu Can took control of the game at the very beginning with steady moves and sharp strikes. In the fifth round, Shun Kubo was knocked down. With cheering audience, Xu Can claimed the victory by TKO in the sixth round.

Xu became Chinas youngest world professional boxing champion this January, winning with scores of 117-111, 116-112 and 118-110 over Rojas. After that he was awarded as the first Chinese five star boxer by BoxRec website.

Im Can, I can! Xu Can shouted. It was exactly what he said when he won the golden belt this January.

I am so happy to defend my title in my hometown, thank all of you for coming to support me today, he added.

(Xinhua)15:29, May 27, 2019

LAUSANNE, May 27 (Xinhua) — The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has revealed Friday the report by the evaluation commission on the two candidates to host the 2026 Winter Olympic Games (Stockholm-Are and Milan-Cortina) and praised their efforts to embrace the Olympic Agenda 2020 in their bids.

Both projects prioritise legacy and sustainability by capitalising on winter sports tradition and experience, with first-rate, established World Cup venues, knowledgeable and passionate fans, volunteers and event organizers. They have fully embedded the Olympic Agenda 2020 philosophy, and have athletes at the center of their plans, the chair of the evaluation committee Octavian Moraiu said.

According to the report, the two candidates plan to use on average 80 percent of existing or temporary venues, 20 percentage points lower than that of candidates for the two previous editions. This leads to a 20 percent lower cost in their proposed budget.

The host city for the 2026 Olympic Winter Games will be decided on June 24 when both candidates have their final presentation at the 134th IOC session in Lausanne, Switzerland.