Mark Dreyer
@DreyerChina
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China Sports Insider, and author of Sporting Superpower: An Insider's View on China's Quest to Be the Best. Now available in paperback: https://t.co/4LiTJUvuhs
Beijing
Joined January 2013
Very excited to announce the launch of #SportingSuperpower, my look at how China has changed from one Olympics to the next. Available for download now:
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This is amazing. Due to the backlash from Chinese fans seeing unmasked crowds in Qatar, Chinese TV is now replacing live crowds shots during games and instead cutting to close-ups of players and coaches.
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It's taken global sports media folk a while to realize this, but they've finally figured out that mentioning the band EXO in just about any context can make their social media numbers go through the roof. #EXO_Olympics
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UPDATE: ALL shoplifting charges against LiAngelo Ball, Cody Riley and Jalen Hill were dropped, meaning the UCLA trio return home with a clean record. They also were NOT officially deported.
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I tweeted about EXO and their fans replied in their thousands. So I wrote about it and tweeted again: #Olympics_EXO.
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This is extremely odd. Three Kenyans in today's Beijing Half Marathon clearly let China's He Jie - current Asian Games marathon champion - win the race, all the while coasting themselves, waving him through and congratulating him after the race. Appears to be a tacit agreement?.
4月14日，北京半程马拉松比赛现场疑似出现假赛，引发大众质疑。视频中，比赛最后几百米，中国选手何杰原本落后，但3位外籍运动员中有人回头摆手疑似示意何杰反超，又示意队友减速。最终，何杰在默契中完成反超，以一秒优势夺冠。.这一戏剧性画面引发大众质疑。
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IPC President Andrew Parsons appeared to Chinese viewers and listeners to have a mic issue at the Paralympic Opening Ceremony this evening. But in fact his speech about how he was "horrified at what is taking place in the world right now" was censored in China.
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This is just really shitty. Zhang Shuai hits a ball that is clearly in against Hungarian Kiara Toth at the Hungarian Open, but it's called out. Toth then erases the ball mark with her foot. Player, umpire and crowd gang up on a distraught Zhang, who retires moments later.
1. Zhang Shuai se queja sobre una marca (estaba en lo correcto). 2. Su rival, Kiara Toth, va y la borra a pesar del 'Espera, espera, mantén la marca' de la china. 3. Zhang es abucheada y, minutos de después, se retira del partido por un ataque de pánico.
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Here's Chinese-Canadian actor/singer @KrisWuOfficial_ on the field prior to @MNSuperBowl2018 in his role as @NFL_China Ambassador.
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Actor & singer #KrisWu took the Am+ victory in his first race of the inaugural GT Super Sprint Challenge round in Shanghai this weekend, with the fastest lap overall in Race 2, racing for Porsche. #GTSCC #KrisWu20XXGTSSC
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Some people still refusing to see this, so decided to track it. Within a minute, there was this: close-up shots of Canadian and Croatian fans on BBC/international feed, replaced by a solo shot of Canadian coach John Herdman on CCTV.
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I literally just spent the past two hours watching parallel feeds of the Brazil-Switzerland game and there were FORTY-TWO times where CCTV avoided showing crowd/fan close-ups. I saw ONE crowd close-up on CCTV (of former Brazilian players) at the start of the game. That's it.
@ianbremmer That is a total lie you should not help spread.
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Chinese-Canadian actor/singer @KrisWuOfficial_ is named as @MNSuperBowl2018 Ambassador for @NFL_China and will perform in downtown Minneapolis on the day before the game.
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This is what happened when France's Ligue 1 moved the kickoff for Lyon vs Nantes to the earlier time of 1:30pm to better suit fans in China. Lyon fans made a "Free Tibet" sign/flag to protest the decision.
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Sounds like motherhood is Serena's new Grand Slam challenge. Her baby is now 3.5 months old.
Nothing is working. It's breaking my heart. I almost need my mom to come and hold me to sleep cause I'm so stressed. Help? Anyone??.
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Manchester United have just opened a Theatre of Dreams experience centre in Beijing. Meanwhile, at the real thing.
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Here's another "scoop" - turns out the reporter is no such thing. She jumped from editorial to the business side more than five years ago and is currently a sales representative for Lianhe Zaobao in Shanghai. Strange person to be conducting the interview. 🤔.
Amazing scoop for the reporter from Beijing-friendly Singo outlet Lianhe Zaobao who just randomly door-stopped the most sought-after woman in China, surrounded by sports industry heavyweights, for an awkward 5-min edited interview. covering some key questions, ignoring others 🧐
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My sports tweets don’t usually get much attention, but it seems that this one did, so I’ll offer a little more context to my initial 200-character post in a🧵. .
This is amazing. Due to the backlash from Chinese fans seeing unmasked crowds in Qatar, Chinese TV is now replacing live crowds shots during games and instead cutting to close-ups of players and coaches.
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Message to journalists: if you're on your way to the cross-country this afternoon to try and get a glimpse of Chinese torch bearer Dinigeer Yilamujiang, don't bother. She's been dropped from the women's 4 x 5km relay team.
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BREAKING: LiAngelo Ball, UCLA teammates flying home from China
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NBC's shot of Putin sleeping during Ukraine's entrance is also doing the rounds on Chinese social media.
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Just saw that Aston Villa have announced fixtures against Telford United and Kidderminster Harriers - though unclear if that's preseason 2018/19 or regular season 2020/21.
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First reaction to Eileen Gu announcing she will be an Ambassador for Salt Lake City's 2030/2034 Winter Olympic bid? She's overcompensating for her decision to represent China in 2022.
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This pretty much up sums up Chinese football at the moment (keep an eye on the goalie).
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Shelves emptying quickly in Beijing right now, after three rounds of mass testing was announced for the central district of Chaoyang about an hour ago.
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Absolutely brutal clip of Chinese President Xi Jinping telling his Thai counterpart that he "doesn't have confidence in [China's] football team". He's right, of course, but think about the impact of that public statement. So much for Xi's three wishes for Chinese football. .
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Moments later, Croatia scored. The rest of the world saw shots of joyous Croatian fans, but on CCTV they showed close-up of shots of the two coaches. Case rested.
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This is the Xinjiang women's basketball team, studiously taking notes.
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Here's the new club badge of fourth-tier Chinese club Xiamen Tianyu FC. Any ideas where they got that lovely eagle insignia from? #CPFC (H/T @peteriveson)
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And we have ourselves a statement: Ukraine's Vladyslav Heraskevych makes his views known after his third run in the men's skeleton.
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Thread on the clusterf*ck facing Chinese ice hockey right now, with less than 9 months to go to the Olympics.
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Half of the posts on my WeChat Moments are of long lines for a COVID test. Most of the testing stations near me in Sanlitun, Beijing closed over the weekend (presumably to incentivize people to test at their communities and/or stay at home). This one is the only one within range.
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Most obvious explanation here is that race fees for the Africans were guaranteed and/or a bonus was offered for letting local runner win. Otherwise competing for prize $$ among themselves on the Chinese circuit can be a cruel game, with barely enough on offer to pay their costs.
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China and its people are entitled to neutral or pro-Russian views - as ample evidence on Chinese social media shows - but at least confront opposing views. Censorship continues to warp this country.
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Zheng becomes the sixth Chinese player to reach the last 16 of a Grand Slam. Weibo's Sport channel - in a now deleted post - lists four of the other five. Can you guess who's missing? #WhereIsPengShuai
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A Rebuttal from someone who actually knows something about this topic (me). And, no, that's not very humble, but I've spent 15 years looking at this (rather than 15 minutes) and have written a book on the topic.
The China understanders are trying to use Chinese football to describe the racial traits of the Chinese people.😂. Let me make it easy for you people, football is just not that popular in China. Here are the reasons why football is what it is in China:.1/8
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My sports tweets don’t usually get much attention, but it seems that this one did, so I’ll offer a little more context to my initial 200-character post in a🧵. .
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This is the moment Eileen Gu knew she had her first Olympic gold - two more to come, she hopes. Thomas Bach in blue on the left there.
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Desperately sad to see Beijing's Nali Patio come to a swift and brutal end - and all because of a landlord feud.
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And so it goes. Premier League games will not be broadcast in China this weekend because censors think the fans couldn't bear to see football players show support for Ukraine:
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No NHL China Games this year, but @Capitals legend Alex Ovechkin will be in Beijing Aug 4-8 promoting the league. 1,211 points in 1,084 NHL games and counting.
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Here's what CCTV-5 shows (in order):.1. Chinese medal performances.2. Chinese medal ceremonies.3. Endless replays of above. 100. Actual live sport.
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BREAKING NEWS: "The Asian Football Confederation has been officially informed by the CFA that it would not be able to host the AFC Asian Cup 2023.".
🚨 Important update on #AsianCup2023 hosts! .
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Beijing T3 is a ghost town. Used to be be one of the busiest airports in the world - now just three flights out all day and everything shut.
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It's possible, of course, that others have been selected above her on form/merit, but we're told she was chosen as a torch bearer because of her "achievements", so something doesn't add up.
Why do foreign media call it "provocative" when China chooses a Chinese award-winning skier to light the Olympic flame? Dinigeer Yilamujiang from Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region certainly deserves the limelight – but for her achievements, not geopolitics. #Beijing2022
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This 2017 story is.worth a read. Very common for African pro runners to compete in top provincial races around China - but highly unusual they would let a Chinese runner win so obviously.
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He actually had a line half way through: "To the people of China: Xiexie." But those people didn't hear it nor any of the other messages Parsons intended to delivered to the world.
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Given the news that Guochuan Lai is hoping to revisit #WestBrom later this season, I wanted to highlight the "True Lais" chapter from my book "Sporting Superpower". Here are a couple of tasters, courtesy of @chrislepkowski and @tariqpanja, lots more inside! #wba #albion #baggies
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Eileen Gu was among those mentioned by Chinese President Xi Jinping at Beijing's Great Hall of the People today to mark those who had contributed to the success of @Beijing2022. Red bean buns and Eileen's love of food prompts a chuckle from the big man, and a round of applause.
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The Shanghai Sharks and the Jiangsu Dragons in the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) have both been thrown out of the ongoing playoffs for match-fixing. More details below 👇
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A thread on this nonsense about Jose Mourinho rejecting the world's largest contract to manage at Guangzhou Evergrande in the Chinese Super League, which is now being reported everywhere.
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This is Argentinian international Ezequiel Lavezzi, who plays his football in China. The year is 2017.
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He Jie officially timed at one second quicker than the African trio, at least one of whom (Willy Mnangat) is repped by Chinese agent Karen Lin, according to World Athletics. Lin is listed as repping 32 runners, almost all of whom are from Kenya.
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Not often I get to retweet a China + cricket + rhinos story.
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Chinese state media manages, on the third or fourth swing, to get the ball back over the net. It's hardly a cross-court winner, but it's a return nonetheless. How will the WTA respond to this? They'd rather be playing against Peng herself, of course.
Peng Shuai showed up at the opening ceremony of a teenager tennis match final in Beijing on Sunday morning. Global Times photo reporter Cui Meng captured her at scene.
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Beijing half marathon race investigation strips top four (Chinese "winner" He Jie + 3 African pacemakers) of their placing and prize money, and cancels registration of one of the organizers and sponsor Xtep. Some quick thoughts:
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The one main question for me over #AVFC that won't go away is this: if Tony has all the money in the world, as he says he does, why have the funds dried up in recent months? Foreign exchange reserves have been increasing in China, so the PBOC has allowed more outflow - not less.
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Check this from the Beijing Evening News. The photo is golden - Chinese runner pips African trio at the line - though no mention, naturally, of the real story.
He Jie, the #Chinese record holder for the men's marathon, won the men's race in 1 hour, 3 minutes and 44 seconds. The first three of the women's race were taken by Chinese runners, and Liu Min ranked first in 1 hour, 11 minutes, and 12 seconds. #beijing #marathon #FunInBeijing
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Forget the half marathon nonsense - this is the biggest scandal in the Chinese sports scene since Peng Shuai. Must-read thread below on claim that 23 Chinese swimmers were secretly cleared by authorities of doping just in time for Tokyo Olympics.
ARD Doping Editorial Team world exclusive after two-year investigation: Mass doping suspicion in China - WADA fails to act: 23 top Chinese swimmers tested positive in 2021 but were secretly cleared in time to compete at the Tokyo Olympics. With @hajoseppelt 1/.
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The strategy appears to be "don't mention the war", but that doesn't actually mean the war isn't happening.
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Wouldn't be surprised if the propaganda machine kicks into gear tomorrow and we get an official "explanation" of what happened.
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So it turns out that Beijing's iconic Water Cube has already been rebranded as the Ice Cube ahead of @Beijing2022. The venue will host #curling and #wheelchaircurling events four years from now. 🥌
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Remember the name: Su Yiming, 17, just won🥈 in snowboard slopestyle, one of the coolest sports at the Olympics.
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China got the rub in short track tonight, but here are the BBC commentators basically saying Su Yiming should have got gold in slopestyle. Meanwhile, snowboard community is going beserk over Max Parrot's knee grab (i.e. missed grab) getting such high marks to win gold.
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There was massive reaction on social media after the World Cup Opening Ceremony. WeChat was full of comments about 80,000 people in the stadium and hardly a mask in sight.
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China Women's News, interestingly, not going with the "no women" angle.
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FIFA has issued a takedown notice over this clip that shows how CCTV has been replacing crowd close-ups with other shots. Seems perfectly reasonable under Twitter's fair use policy. Let's see how the counter claim goes.
This is amazing. Due to the backlash from Chinese fans seeing unmasked crowds in Qatar, Chinese TV is now replacing live crowds shots during games and instead cutting to close-ups of players and coaches.
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Not sure what the international broadcast showed, but the first cutaway of Xi Jinping during the Parade of Nations on CCTV came during - you guessed it - "Chinese Taipei".
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Is Chinese TV editing out crowd shots on its live World Cup broadcasts? Yes. Are ALL the crowd shots being replaced? Well, no. That would be a little odd. Confused? Read on….
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It goes back to the line "I'm American when I'm in the US, and I'm Chinese when I'm in China." That pithy phrase was never as good as Gu thought it was - it worked for her, and almost nobody else.
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What a career! Xu Mengtao's Olympic record:.2010 - 6th.2014 - 🥈.2018 - 9th.2022 -🥇
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But it's 100% a fact that Chinese TV airs fewer fan/crowd shots on average than other international broadcasters due to pre-emptive censorship.
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Some history: this has happened before. Chinese broadcasters are notoriously cautious of crowd shots at international sporting events because of what might be seen – like Tibetan flags, for example.
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But what about the COVID thing? Well, that’s the other major factor here. There have been widespread reports about Chinese fans reacting – none too happily – to 1000s of unmasked fans gathering daily in Qatar, while back in China, many people are stuck watching at home.
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I know I'm harping on this a little, but the contrast is stark. CCTV-5 - yes, only one outlet, but still the main one - replayed Su Yiming's gold medal run (again), and the commentary is gushing to the point of orgasmic. Eileen Gu today received the equivalent of muted applause.
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There's some big Olympic news brewing in the world of ice hockey - and it doesn't sound like it is good for China. At all.
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Would it be possible to share the e|mail?.
My confirmed source told me that #PengShuai today sent an email to WTA’s Steve Simon, expressed her shock for WTA’s unfair decision to suspend all tournaments in China. Peng asks Simon not to quote out of context and stop making any remarks exploiting her privacy.
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I believe it's called "pissing in the wind".
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So, yes, you can pick holes in the original 200-character tweet – and several have – but I stand by the clear implication of it: that Chinese TV is showing fewer crowd shots in their World Cup games than other broadcasters and a major reason for that is COVID backlash in China.
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Luis Suarez got an eight-game ban for racially abusing Evra. Oscar got the same punishment for kicking a ball twice. #CSL.
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Good to have football back in Beijing at the newly renovated 68,000-capacity Workers' Stadium. Beijing Guoan had been banished to Fengtai on the outskirts of town for the past three years, but great to have them back in the heart of the city.
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Trackside angle of crash in Motorcycle Grand Prix at #MacauGP. Some riders hospitalized, but fortunately no life-threatening injuries.
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SCMP: Beijing 2022 was the most-watched Winter Olympics in US history. Everyone else: US viewing figures are down 40-50% from PyeongChang 2018.
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For the censorship apologists saying that Parsons' speech *was* shown on Chinese TV, this thread describes exactly how his words were manipulated as he spoke last night and how it appeared to viewers in China.
(1/11) Thread 🧵 to explain how the speech by IPC President Andrew Parsons at the Opening Ceremony of the Beijing Paralympics is censored in China to remove any reference to the Olympic Truce. Parsons starts with “Tonight I want, I must begin with a message of peace…”
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Short thread that sums up how Chinese football is run today: China 🇨🇳has been in talks for months with Argentina 🇦🇷 about playing a friendly match later in the year. /1.
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Great reporting here from TV 2 SPORT in Denmark, getting China's Ye Zhaoying to describe on the record how she was forced by Chinese coaches to throw her Olympic badminton semi-final in 2000 because they thought her opponent, Gong Zhichao, had a better chance of securing🥇.
In an exclusive interview with TV 2 SPORT former Chinese badminton star and World number one Ye Zhaoying reveals how she was ordered to lose Olympic semi-final. 🏸 . THE STORY 👉
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2. For those arguing - or hoping - that China will open up after Xi Jinping's coronation at the Party Congress in Oct/Nov, think again. Xi's a big soccer fan (again, see the book!), but that matters little in the final analysis. COVID-zero is here to stay in China.
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I've been following the Chinese men's ice hockey story for the better part of a year. It's been a wild, wild ride. Tonight, in just about one hour's time, their Olympic adventure begins against - who else? - the US.
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A couple of final points: to all the trolls telling me I’m a liar, please read the above. Your “But I saw a crowd shot on TV” isn’t quite the own you think it is.
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Introducing CBN reporter 梁相宜 Liang Xiangyi, who looks like she has a career in acting ahead of her, with this clip blowing up on Chinese social media.
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What other Chinese athlete would possibly serve in a similar Ambassador role? Yao Ming?? He'd be crucified back home. Gu is doing it because - as became very apparent earlier this year - she's far more American than she is Chinese.
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Guangzhou FC (formerly Evergrande)'s last decade in the CSL:.2011 - 1st.2012 - 1st.2013 - 1st.2014 - 1st.2015 - 1st.2016 - 1st.2017 - 1st.2018 - 2nd.2019 - 1st.2020 - 2nd.2021 - 3rd.2022 - RELEGATED (16th/17th TBC).
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