China has named a player of mixed African and Chinese heritage to the national men’s volleyball team in a noteworthy selection in one of the country’s most popular sports.
Ding Hui (丁慧), 19, is being heralded as the first “black” athlete to play top level sport in China, media reports said yesterday.
Ding, who also played on China’s national youth squad in 2004, was named in China’s national volleyball team this week and is expected to be key to the nation’s drive towards the London 2012 Olympics, the Beijing News reported.
The native of the eastern city of Hangzhou was raised by his Chinese mother and began playing competitive volleyball in his mid-teens, according to the official Xinhua news agency and other reports.
Ding’s father is believed to be South African, although reports did not indicate whether he is in touch with his son.
“Black skin, thick lips and big white teeth are the main characteristics of Ding Hui’s appearance,” said a report on the sports section of Netease.com, one of China’s main Internet portals.
“Due to the special characteristics of his bloodline Ding Hui is blessed with pliability, toughness and agility and has been been undergoing volleyball training at special sports schools since he was young,” it said.
According to the reports, no black athlete has represented China on a national team.
“The coaching staff has been watching him for some time ... his demeanor is the most important thing for me,” the Beijing News quoted national team head coach Zhou Jianan (周建安) as saying.
“He has a very active demeanor on the court, so he will bring a lot of fire to our team,” Zhou said.
Zhou praised Ding’s instincts and passing, placing him among the country’s top five players on both defense and offense.
Zhou said Ding, who plays the libero position, had been a natural for national selection, but the move raised eyebrows with some.
“Countless numbers of people have called me about this issue today, but I just tell them that his ethnic background and family situation are his own private matter about which I have no opinion,” Zhou was quoted as saying by Xinhua.
While Ding’s national selection was unusual, dark-skinned athletes are not rare in China. Exchange students from Africa and elsewhere have featured on university teams and amateur squads, while there are many black players in the professional soccer and basketball leagues.
TO FINAL FOUR: France had 22 chances and scored two goals, while Croatia could not manage a single shot on target in 120 minutes. Les Bleus won 5-4 on penalties France on Sunday overturned a two-goal deficit to qualify for the UEFA Nations League Final Four by eliminating Croatia 5-4 on penalties after a 2-0 victory in their quarter-final second leg at the Stade de France. Dayot Upamecano scored the winning spot kick in a nail-biting shootout in which France keeper Mike Maignan made two saves, sending Les Bleus into the semi-finals against Spain. Michael Olise opened the scoring and Ousmane Dembele doubled their lead 10 minutes from time to send the tie into extra time after their 2-0 loss in Split, Croatia, on Thursday. France had a total of
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
RSS