Roundup: Five-Event Universiade Tennis Concludes With Three Golds to ChinaThe five-event eight-day Universiade tennis tournament lowered the curtain in Beijing 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. |
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