World number one Zhang Ning led defending champions China to a 3-0 win over Germany yesterday to rekindle her rivalry against Mia Audina Tjptawan of the Netherlands in the Uber Cup final.
Athens Olympic champion Zhang shrugged off a slow start to beat European champion Xu Huaiwen 21-17, 21-14 in the opening singles rubber in 33 minutes.
World champion Xie put China two up by breezing past Juliane Schenk 21-17, 21-16, while the world number two duo Yang Wei and Zhang Jiewen downed Michaela Peiffer and Sandra Marinello 21-9, 21-4 to finish off the best-of-five contest.
The Netherlands defeated Taiwan 3-0, with Audina beating Cheng Shao-chieh 21-19, 21-17, Judith Meulendiks beating Chien Yu-chin 22-20, 21-17, and Katrina de Wit beating Pai Min-jie 21-16, 14-21, 21-15.
China's head coach, Li Yongbo, was upbeat ahead of tomorrow's clash.
"When I saw Zhang Ning and Xie Xingfang, I know they were under pressure, but I'm sure they will show their real potential in the final."
"In the doubles, Germany couldn't cope with Yang Wei and Zhang Jiewen, who didn't need to perform their best today. With these four players, who can beat us?"
Zhang said Audina is a "special rival" since Zhang lost to Audina in the fifth singles match of the 1994 Uber Cup final at Jakarta, where Audina brought her mother country Indonesia's second victory.
Audina said she was relieved that her team defeated Taiwan 3-0 and that she did not need to play a doubles, since she had a bad cold last week.
RECORD DEFEAT: The Shanghai-based ‘Oriental Sports Daily’ said the drubbing was so disastrous, and taste so bitter, that all that is left is ‘numbness’ Chinese soccer fans and media rounded on the national team yesterday after they experienced fresh humiliation in a 7-0 thrashing to rivals Japan in their opening Group C match in the third phase of Asian qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. The humiliation in Saitama on Thursday against Asia’s top-ranked team was China’s worst defeat in World Cup qualifying and only a goal short of their record 8-0 loss to Brazil in 2012. Chinese President Xi Jinping once said he wanted China to host and even win the World Cup one day, but that ambition looked further away than ever after a
‘KHELIFMANIA’: In the weeks since the Algerian boxer won gold in Paris, national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women In the weeks since Algeria’s Imane Khelif won an Olympic gold medal in women’s boxing, athletes and coaches in the North African nation say national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women. Khelif’s image is practically everywhere, featured in advertisements at airports, on highway billboards and in boxing gyms. The 25-year-old welterweight’s success in Paris has vaulted her to national hero status, especially after Algerians rallied behind her in the face of uninformed speculation about her gender and eligibility to compete. Amateur boxer Zougar Amina, a medical student who has been practicing for a year, called Khelif an
Crowds descended on the home of 17-year-old Chinese diver Quan Hongchan after she won two golds at the Paris Olympics while gymnast Zhang Boheng hid in a Beijing airport toilet to escape overzealous throngs of fans. They are just two recent examples of what state media are calling “toxic fandom” and Chinese authorities have vowed to crack down on it. Some of the adulation toward China’s sports stars has been more sinister — fans obsessing over athletes’ personal lives, cyberbullying opponents or slamming supposedly crooked judges. Experts say it mirrors the kind of behavior once reserved for entertainment celebrities before
GOING GLOBAL: The regular season fixture is part of the football league’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the sport to international destinations The US National Football League (NFL) breaks new ground in its global expansion strategy tomorrow when the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers face off in the first-ever grid-iron game staged in Brazil. For one night only, the land of Pele and ‘The Beautiful Game’ will get a rare glimpse into the bone-crunching world of American football as the Packers and Eagles collide at Sao Paulo’s Neo Quimica Arena, the 46,000-seat home of soccer club Corinthians. The regular season fixture is part of the NFL’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the US’ most popular sport to new territories following previous international fixtures
RSS