Liang Wen-chong says emerging Chinese golfers need more help to establish themselves, calling for dedicated personnel to steer them in the right direction.
Currently the hottest property in Chinese golf after winning the European Tour-sanctioned Singapore Masters in March, Liang is a big supporter of the game in his homeland.
He donated his Singapore prize money to development of the game in China, following a similar gesture after winning a China Tour event last season.
But it has been a long haul to get where he is and he knows the pitfalls that face young golfers now coming through.
"The middle-range players, the ones who are not very famous yet, are facing difficulties," he said.
"It is hard for them to go abroad and play. By donating the money I hope to encourage people who support the sport, to encourage people who like the sport to be more supportive," Liang said.
"I have walked the path [which up-and-coming Chinese golfers are walking at the moment] and it was not easy," he said.
Liang pointed to the crop of new Thai golfers now on the Asian Tour and the fact that they have someone who travels with them to smooth their way, something Chinese golfers do not have.
"They have one person to take care of them while they are playing abroad and I think that is a very good thing," he said.
"The most important thing is to have someone help them solve problems. How do they register for tournaments, how do they enter an event, how do they book tickets, who do they look for to get information at a tournament. If they have all these details to worry about they are not going to play golf very well," Liang said.
Liang is encouraged that the Omega China Tour, about to start its third season, is now established. He plans to continue supporting it as a way of helping his compatriots.
"It has taught them how to play events. I think that most of the players in the top 10 of the rankings on the China Tour should make it to the Asian Tour and beyond," he said.
"[But] I do not think one person should represent Chinese golf. It should be a team of players, it should be all about teamwork and team power -- not like a one-man show," he said.
"I think that teamwork and team power is the key for the future of Chinese golf," Liang said.
The China Tour begins with the Sofitel Golf Championship in Nanjing from May 10 to 13.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier