BEIJING, August 31 (Xinhuanet) -- The five-event eight-day
Universiade tennis tournament lowered the curtain here Thursday
when China's Zhu Benqiang and Li Na showed their gold medals for
the mixed doubles with smile on the awarding stands to the
cheering home crowd at the central court of the newly-built
Beijing Muxiyuan Tennis Center.
China's sweeping of three titles out of the five highlighted
the competitions which attracted more than 160 players from 46
countries and regions. China topped the medal list of the tennis
with three golds and a bronze. South Korea came the second with
one gold, one silver and three bronze, followed by Mexico with one
gold, Chinese Taipei one silver and two bronze, the Czech Republic
one silver and one bronze, Russia and Germany, both one silver,
and France, Britain and the Switzerland, all with one bronze.
The coming players could be divided into three categories: one
group comprises pure University students who play tennis mainly
for fun; Another one includes former professional players who
major in their university studies now; The third group is consist
of those professional players who are receiving high-level
education but are still active in the competitions at all levels
and have world ranking. Almost all the medalists of this
Universiade tennis tournament are from the third group.
In the gold medal fights starting from Wednesday, Li Na and Li
Ting, China's top female tennis pair and the top seed of the
Universiade, clinched the women's doubles title. This is the first
gold in this event reaped by China in the world-level multi-sport
games in eight years since Yi Jingqian, China's best-ever female
tennis player, and Chen Li won the same champion at the
Universiade held in 1993.
The tussle saw a beautiful teamwork of Li Na, who is good at
baseline forehand and backhand strikes, and Li Ting, who often
volleyed well near the net. The powerful serves made by the
Chinese pair also exerted great pressure on South Korea's Kim Eun-
Ha and Kim Mi-Ok, the second seed who lost the match 4-6, 4-6 and
got the silver. The bronze was shared by the unseeded French pair,
Julie Coin and Emile Scribot, and Chinese Taipei's Janet Lee and
Weng Tzu-Ting, the third seed.
Unseeded Mexican pair Lozano Carlos and Arredondo Juan took the
gold for the men's doubles here Wednesday afternoon, beating the
Czech pair Pavel Kudrnac, Tomas Macharacek, the seventh seed, 6-4,
3-6, 6-3, in the final. Both the two pairs are a composition of
one left-handed and one right-handed player. China's Li Si and
Yang Jingzhu, seeded fifth, shared the doubles' bronze with South
Korea's Kim Dong-Hyun and Lee Chang-Hoon, the top seed.
On Thursday, Li Na, the second seed and ranked 240th, claimed
the women's singles title, beating Chinese Taipei's Janet Lee, the
top seed and rated 87th, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in the most intense final
match. China has waited for this gold for eight years since Yi
Jingqian, former Chinese top tennis player, clinched the title in
the 1993 Universiade.
"This gold medal is the most valuable one for the Chinese
Universiade tennis team, which will definitely heighten the morale
of China's tennis circle," Jiang Xiuyun, the Chinese team's
manager told reporters after the match.
Janet, the defending champion of the women's singles of the
Universiade tennis and the most potential gold-taker for Chinese
Taipei, got the silver this time. The bronze was shared by South
Korea's Chung Yang-Jin and British player Amanda Janes.
South Korean player, Lee Seung-Hun, the third seed and rated
494th, clinched the men's singles title, beating Russian player
Philippe Moukhometov, the sixth seed and ranked 648th, 6-4, 6-2 in
the final.
Lee Seung-Hun, who suffered injury on his knee in the first set,
fought to the end and won spectators' applause. Swiss player
Matthieu Amgwerd and Chinese Taipei's Lu Yen-Hsun shared the
bronze
China's Zhu Benqiang and Li Na Reaped the gold for the mixed
doubles by defeating Germany's Jan Boruszewski and Claudia Bensch,
6-3, 6-1 in the lopsided final. This is China's first gold medal
for the event in the Universiade.
Zhu and Li, the sixth seed, upseted the Germans, the second
seed and ranked 870th, by their excellent volleys near the net and
the best teamwork they have ever done. The third place was shared
by the Czech pair, Tomas Macharacek and Linda Faltynkova, and the
South Korean pair, Kim Dong-Hyun and Kim Eun-Ha, who won the gold
for the event at last Universiade.
Jiang Xiuyun attributed China's triumph in the tennis
competition to the country's fast-growing economy, which has made
the tennis more and more popular in China, and the
internationalism of the training and competition in recent years.
"We have a lot more tennis courts now than ten years before,
especially in the fast-developing coastal areas," Jiang said,
adding that more and more Chinese people have begun to play or
enjoy the tennis games which need a sound economic base.
"In recent years, we abandoned the domestic tennis league for
female Chinese players and let them compete in the international
competitions directly, which obviously helps them improve their
skills and accumulate experience and points for the world ranking,
" Jiang noted.
"Li Na, a talented player who have won three gold medals at the
Universiade tennis, has competed in many relatively high-level
competitions in the world and has received training in the United
States for some time," Jiang said.
"Now, we are considering to invite experienced foreign coach to
train her," Jiang added. "Of course, we are also cooperating with
the International Tennis Association to foster our native coaches,
" she said.
"We have also sent six children under the age 14 to the tennis
schools of the United States," she said.
Finally, Jiang noted that China's success this time does not
mean that China has become a tennis powerhouse as many top-grade
professional players did not come to the Universiade.
"We still have a long way to go," She said. Enditem
|
””
””