Changing China
Giant on the move
from Left field:
Hit with Maria? A perk of the job for China’s leaders
As mayor of Beijing for most of the period running up to the 2008 Olympics and now Vice Premier of China with responsibility for financial and economic affairs, Wang Qishan has been a very busy man over the last few years.
He has, however, made time to indulge his passion for tennis and been highly influential in the growth of the China Open tournament, now one of the top events in women’s tennis with ambitions of becoming an Asian major.
Wang also likes to take to the court, and who can blame him when he is offered the chance to trade forehands with some of the best women in the professional game?
Video expert: tennis at the Olympics
On the day of the men’s singles gold medal match between Rafael Nadal and Fernando Gonzalez, Ossian Shine of Reuters leafs through the record books … so that you don’t have to.
Fascinating.!!! The man is a walking encyclopaedia of tennis facts. Genius.!!! Must be genetically-conferred.
Day six at the Games: Roger Federer’s miserable year
Roger Federer came to Beijing hoping for a singles gold medal to ease the pain of losing the last two major finals and his number one ranking to Rafa Nadal.
Tennis at the Olympics may rank far below the Grand Slams but considering he has not won one of those this year a gold medal would still have served very nicely, thanks very much.
Sadly for the Swiss, he lost 6-4 7-6 to James Blake in the quarter-finals on Thursday, a miserable day all round given the rain that was falling.
The Williams sisters also went out, double Olympic champion Venus beaten 7-5 7-5 by China’s Li Na and Serena losing to Elena Dementieva.
Away from the tennis, Michael Phelps was for once not the story. Alain Bernard of France won the men’s 100m freestyle in the Water Cube, while there was a nasty incident when a Swedish wrestler tossed away his bronze medal in disgust at the refereeing that cost him a shot at gold.
Otherwise, it was a golden day for Asia, as Japanese swimmer Kosuke Kitajima completed a breaststroke double double and Chinese gymnast Yang Wei ended eight years of hurt in the men’s individual all-round event.
For story of the day and picture of the day, look a bit further down the page. Quote of the day? Nothing great, so I thought I’d give you a joke of the day instead. This was overheard in the Athletes Village:
1. What a pity we should have to read letters like Dan Scarlett’s !! Federer has been an AMAZING player for the last 5 years. Has been #1 for more than 230 weeks continuously. What if he loses #1 ?! What if he loses a few matches ?! No problem.
2. Federer’s fantastic game is best summed up by Nadal himself on various occasions.
3. Any real tennis player or fan/enthusiast who has some good grasp of the game will know the greatness of a player like Roger Federer. He has of course given a NEW DIMENSION to Tennis game and for another 25 years you will be hearing people talking about RF.
4. Nevertheless, we definitely need comments from Scarlett like people, in order to bring out the best in Ranga-like people who knows much more about the game, about Federer’s game, and his contribution to the Tennis world.
5. I have no doubt at all, there is still lot of tennis left in RF, and he will definitely win a few more grand slams.
6. Wait and see… RF-critics and RF-haters !!!
