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Jonathan White

The last week was not a great one for Chinese sport on the international stage.
UFC strawweight champion Zhang Weili lost to Rose Namajunas in the most dramatic fashion at UFC 261 in Florida.
The other three Chinese fighters on the card, all graduates of the China Academy based out of the UFC’s Shanghai Performance Centre, each lost their debut fights too.
Some Chinese fans turned on Zhang after her first round loss, with complaints that they had paid six yuan (US$0.93) to watch.

It also appears that Chinese footballer Wu Lei will cut short his stint in Spain with Espanyol.
Aside from watching from the stands as an unused substitute in the second tier, China’s star player will need to leave in the coming days to pass quarantine ahead of his country’s upcoming Fifa 2022 World Cup qualifiers.
UFC’s Zhang Weili and Beijing 2022 Olympics hope Eileen Gu lead big year for Chinese women
In the UK, snooker hope Yan Bingtao fell at the second round of the World Championships, the last man standing of the five Chinese players to make the first round.
It has now been 15 years since the world expected an imminent Chinese world champion when Ding Junhui burst onto the scene. Yan won the Masters earlier this year and time is on the 21-year-old’s side, but Ding is proof of how difficult the next step is.
Doom and gloom pervades, even when there is good news the glass is never seen as half full.

⚽️ The women's Olympic football groups!

Check out how the draw went for the 1⃣2⃣ teams that will take part in the upcoming Games!@Olympics @FIFAcom #Tokyo2020
— #Tokyo2020 (@Tokyo2020) April 21, 2021

Take the Chinese women’s football team who dramatically booked their ticket for the delayed Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games with victory over South Korea last month.
Their reward was what Chinese media have called the “group of death” in Tokyo.
Maybe they are looking to hedge expectations and couch disappointment but it is as far from a group of death as they could have got. It’s more like the holy grail, given that China got the lowest ranked team in each pot.
China fans congratulate Wang Shuang and women’s football team – then stick boot into men
The irony is that this group of death came days after the celebrations on making Tokyo. The Steel Roses were front page news with star player Wang Shuang the focus.
Wang had been praised as a generational talent with South Korean media suggesting that she beat them single-handed. With three of China’s four goals across the two-legs, they were not far off.

China’s morning training before the big match later tonight. #TokyoChallenge #volleyball pic.twitter.com/hcmwe38A3T
— Volleytrails (@TwoCityTrails) May 1, 2021

Online, the topic was trending, with millions of reads in the aftermath of the second leg.
In the following days there was a bit more soul searching, more of that doom and gloom so beloved by sports fans, as they took aim at the misfiring men’s football team.
“Why do Chinese women’s basketball, football and volleyball teams perform better than the men?” they asked. It was one of the most read hashtags on China’s Twitter-like Weibo, with more than 100 million reads.
China’s Nina Schultz aiming to fulfil grandma’s Olympic dream
They had a point.
China’s women’s teams have qualified for football, basketball and volleyball in Tokyo, while the men’s teams have failed to do so.
It is the same story with rugby sevens, where the women won the Asian qualifiers, and in field hockey.

After winning the ticket to Tokyo through a roller-coaster game, emotional expressions from players/coaches of China women's football team when the pressure was off: Wu Haiyan, the captain sidelined due to yellow cards, hugged Wang Shuang, the heroine of the game with tears. pic.twitter.com/Y9cy6YNdSa
— Titan Sports Plus (@titan_plus) April 13, 2021

While men’s basketball qualifiers will be finalised in June with China facing an uphill battle in their group in Victoria, Canada. There is more chance of foreign spectators being at the Olympics than the Chinese men realising their hoop dreams.
It was their turn to be national embarrassments after they hosted the 2019 Fiba World Cup and missed the chance to qualify directly as Asia’s best performing team.
The world No 22 Chinese baseball team can qualify for Tokyo if they overcome hosts Taiwan – 4th in the world – Australia (No 6) and Netherlands (No 9) in June’s postponed qualifiers. Again there’s more chance of snow disrupting the Summer Games.
Tokyo 2020: Chinese netizens ask why women’s teams are better than men’s
The fact is that no men’s teams have qualified while six women’s teams have and one of them – the volleyball team – is the reigning Olympic champion and Zhu Ting the MVP. They beat Japan handsomely in a Tokyo 2020 test event this past weekend.
It’s a stark contrast to both the men’s football teams, which has long been a punchline to the point where there were calls for women’s volleyball coach Lang Ping to take over the football.
Now basketball has joined the joke. At this year’s “Tucao Conference” television variety show former China football captain Fan Zhiyi and CBA Liaoning Flying Leopards team coach Yang Ming laid into each other’s respective sports.

The #SteelRoses qualification to @Tokyo2020 was the headline of many newspapers across China! pic.twitter.com/8JDp3jrN8U
— China Women's Football - 中国女足 (@CHNWNT) April 14, 2021

Doom and gloom might be the preset of the sports fan, of course, but there should be hope – at least when it comes to China’s women.
Newly naturalised heptathlete Nina Schultz (known in China as Zheng Ninali) set a PB at the National Games test event, beating her score from winning silver at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
She’s close to China’s national record and also the Tokyo qualification benchmark. Looking further ahead and naturalised ski star Eileen Gu (Gu Ailing) is expected to shine at the Beijing 2022 Winter Games. In between, Zhang might even get another shot at her belt.
There’s plenty to be hopeful about and it’s definitely worth six yuan to see how they get on.


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Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games

Tokyo 2020: China’s women putting the men to shame

China's women’s football team celebrate qualifying for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games after beating South Korea. Photo: AFP

JACKSONVILLE, FL - APRIL 24: Rose Namajunas of the United States celebrates after beating Zhang Weili of China during the Women's Strawweight Title bout of UFC 261 at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena on April 24, 2021 in Jacksonville, Florida. Alex Menendez/Getty Images/AFP == FOR NEWSPAPERS, INTERNET, TELCOS & TELEVISION USE ONLY ==

UFC 261: Rose Namajunas calls Zhang Weili behaviour ‘strange’ after blanking her

Rose Namajunas celebrates after beating Zhang Weili in the UFC 261 co-main event at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena on April 24, 2021. Photo: AFP

JACKSONVILLE, FL - APRIL 24: Rose Namajunas of the United States fights Zhang Weili of China during the Women's Strawweight Title bout of UFC 261 at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena on April 24, 2021 in Jacksonville, Florida. Alex Menendez/Getty Images/AFP == FOR NEWSPAPERS, INTERNET, TELCOS & TELEVISION USE ONLY ==

Rose Namajunas, right, and Zhang Weili move around the octagon during a UFC 261 mixed martial arts bout Saturday, April 24, 2021, in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/Gary McCullough)

Tokyo Olympics: China fans congratulate Wang Shuang and women’s football team – then stick boot into men

China’s Wang Shuang celebrates after the second leg of Tokyo 2020 Olympic Asian qualification play-offs win over  South Korea in Suzhou. Photo: Xinhua

UFC’s Zhang Weili and Beijing 2022 Olympics hope Eileen Gu lead big year for Chinese women

UFC women's strawweight champion Zhang Weili of China punches former champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk of Poland at UFC 248 in March, 2020. Photo: AP

Fu Yuanhui at the military training camp

China's volleyball national coach Lang Ping (RIGHT) and player Zhu Ting meet the press in Macau.

Wu Lei and Wang Shuang miss out on Chinese Footballer of the Year awards

Espanyol’s Chinese forward Wu Lei warms up before the Spanish La Liga match against Atletico Madrid in March, 2020. Photo: AFP

Sport

China


Despite loss to Rose Namajunas, Zhang Weili shows that women are leading the way in UFC while Olympic sports are no different
Women’s teams have qualified for Tokyo 2020 where men’s teams have struggled and social media users have asked why



Women’s teams have qualified for Tokyo 2020 where men’s teams have struggled and social media users have asked why.


Rio 2016 Olympic Games

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)

Expresses the views, ideas and conclusions of the author. (Eg. Enough of Crazy Rich Asians, think of crazy poor Hongkongers.)


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