Wednesday, August 09, 2000, updated at 14:45(GMT+8)
Sports
Gao Jun to Represent America in Sydney
Gao Jun, former member of the Chinese ping-pong team, will represent America in the Sydney Games and enter in the women's singles and women's doubles events.
Gao Jun, ranked 25th in the world, is the top American ping-pong player in the women's singles and women's doubles, according to Xinhua news agency. She automatically qualified for the Olympics because she is the best women's singles player in America. She will team up with Vietnamese-American Du Lanying in the women's doubles event.
Gao Jun began her training in ping-pong when she was five years old. She was selected to her province's team when she was twelve and joined the Chinese natioanl team five years later. She represented China in the 1992 Barcelona Games and won the silver medal in women's doubles. That same year, when went to America to compete in tournaments, she met Zhang Yongkang, a ping-pong player originally from Taipei now living in America. They married in 1994.
Gao Jun, former member of the Chinese ping-pong team, will represent America in the Sydney Games and enter in the women's singles and women's doubles events.