China's national team soccer coach Zhu Guanghu needs to make the final four of July's Asian Cup. Otherwise, he'll be looking for a job.
"I was told, 'Get to the last four or else,'" Zhu was reported saying in yesterday's China Daily.
China was humiliated 1-0 last week by Thailand in a friendly match, and Zhu said he received the ultimatum shortly after the loss from Xie Yalong, the head of China's soccer association.
Zhu blamed tactical errors for the loss, and the absence of many foreign-based players.
"For the Asian Cup there are going to be changes, whether they be in personnel or tactics," he said. "Certainly there will be no repetition of what happened in Bangkok."
Zhu has been under pressure since taking over in March 2005 for Arie Haan, who was fired after his team failed to qualify for the 2006 World Cup. China has reached only one World Cup final, but lost all three games and failed to score in the 2002 event.
China is grouped with Malaysia, Iran and Uzbekistan in the group stage of the Asian Cup, which takes place July 7 to July 29 in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. The final is on July 29 in Jakarta.
Serbian Ratomir Dujkovic, who coaches China's under-23 Olympic team, is reportedly in line to replace Zhu, particularly if his side wins a medal in next year's Beijing Olympics.
Taiwanese world No. 1 women’s doubles star Hsieh Su-wei on Saturday overcame a first-set loss to win her opening match at the Madrid Open. Top seeds Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium, with whom she last month won her fourth Indian Wells women’s doubles title, bounced back from a rocky first set to beat Asia Muhammad of the US and Aldila Sutjiadi of Indonesia 2-6, 6-4, 10-2. Hsieh and Mertens were next to face Heather Watson of the UK and Xu Yifan of China in the round of 16. Thirty-eight-year-old Hsieh last month reclaimed her world No. 1 spot after her Indian
EYES ON THE PRIZE: Armed with three solid men’s singles shuttlers and doubles Olympic champions, Taiwan aim to make their first Thomas Cup semi-final, Chou Tien-chen said Taiwanese badminton star Tai Tzu-ying yesterday quickly dispatched Malaysia’s Goh Jin Wei in straight sets, while her male counterpart Chou Tien-chen beat Germany’s Kai Schaefer, as Taiwan’s women’s and men’s teams won their Group B opening rounds of the TotalEnergies BWF Thomas and Uber Cup Finals in Chengdu, China. World No. 5 Tai beat Goh 21-19, 22-20 in a speedy 33 minutes, her fourth straight victory over the world No. 24 shuttler since they first faced each other in the quarter-finals of the 2018 Malaysia Open, where Tai went on to win the women’s singles title. Malaysia followed up Tai’s opening victory
Chen Yi-tung (陳奕通) secured a historic Olympic berth on Sunday by winning the senior men’s foil event at the 2024 Asia Oceania Zonal Olympic Fencing Qualifiers in United Arab Emirates. Chen defeated Samuel Elijah of Singapore 15-4 in the final in Dubai to secure the only wild card in the event, making him the first male Olympian fencer from Taiwan in 36 years and only the sixth Taiwanese fencer to ever qualify for the quadrennial event. The last appearance by a Taiwanese male fencer at the Olympics was in 1988, when Wang San-tsai (王三財) and Cheng Ming-hsiang (鄭明祥) competed in Seoul. The
Rafael Nadal on Tuesday lost in straight sets to 31st-ranked Jiri Lehecka in the fourth round at the Madrid Open, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced to the semi-finals in the women’s doubles. Nadal said that he was feeling good about his progress following his latest injury layoff. Nadal called it a “positive week” in every way and said his body held up well. “I was able to play four matches, a couple of tough matches,” Nadal said. “So very positive, winning three matches, playing four matches at the high level of tennis. I enjoyed a lot playing at home. I leave here with