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SUN DAY, AUGUST 2, 2015 SPORTS China curlers hope for Winter Olympic sweep HARBIN: When Liu Jinli first heard the developed quickly... there has been a abroad, and officials “saw that we might soft rumble of curling stones slipping great leap,” said Zhang, a former ice be able to get good results in a relatively over Chinese ice a decade ago, the sport hockey player who 20 years ago became short time”, Zhang said. was virtually unknown in the country. the first Chinese curling coach, as he Harbin city funded China’s first pro- But a few years later she won world looked on with an icy expression. fessional men’s team in 2001, hiring championship gold with China’s national Games similar to ice hockey were coaches from Canada to raise standards, curling team, securing Beijing’s place as played in China as early as the 17th cen- but it was the women curlers-nick- a major power in the sport first played in tury, but other winter sports are relative- named the “five gold flowers”-who took medieval Scotland. ly new to the country. China won its first the country’s first world title. With the China’s rapid rise up the curling ranks Winter Olympic medals in 1992 and has last strike of the 2009 final, captain Wang is part of a wider growth in winter sports since racked up 12 gold. Bingyu carefully unleashed a perfectly promoted by the country’s authorities as Curling got an unlikely start in China paced and targeted shot that knocked Beijing pursued its successful bid to host in the mid-1990s thanks to Japanese out two Swedish scoring stones, secured the 2022 Olympics. investors seeking to profit from their gold for China-and triggered a blood- China only settled on an official name neighbour’s increasingly open economy. curdling scream of victory from one of for curling-”ice kettle”-in 1995, and had An official from Japan’s snowy north- her team-mates. The men’s squad no professional teams until 2001. Taking ern island of Hokkaido suggested the scooped a bronze at the 2010 Winter up the game as a teenager in the north- two countries “jointly develop the sport Olympics, and both are currently ranked eastern city of Harbin, Liu said the play- of curling in China”, according to the in the world’s top five. ers “used to make our own footwear”. China sports administration website. Zhang said that curling was “very “At the very beginning, we would buy In a cold classroom in Harbin in 1995, suitable for Asians, as Asians have flexi- plastic shopping bags and put them coach Zhang recalled, Japanese curlers ble thinking”. But despite a population of CHINA: This picture taken on July 2, 2015 shows a member of a curling team train- over our shoes before going out on the taught China’s first-ever class on the almost 1.4 billion, China is thought to ing at a curling club in Harbin, northeast China’s Heilongjiang province. —AFP ice,” she said. “We had about two brooms sport’s combination of precise stone have just a few hundred curlers, almost for every 10 people.” throwing and tactical sweeping. no grassroots teams, and only three ven- will take ages to train the best athletes. frozen training pitch are basic, with Now, with the financial backing of The deeply strategic sport sees ath- ues. But for curling, I guess within a few years muddy footprints covering the ice, but China’s General Administration of Sports, letes “throw”, or slide, heavy, circular Government spending was key to the you can do very well if you train players the two dozen teenage curlers train for the 26-year-old and her teammates train granite stones across a long stretch of teams’ success, he said, and investment full time,” he added. six hours a day. full time throughout the year. ice towards a target, with two sweepers aimed at securing medals is expected to The next generation of Chinese “Curling is like chess on the ice,” said In summer they retreat to the seaside wielding brooms rushing along the increase in the run-up to 2022. curlers train at the Linxian Curling club youth captain Zhang Zehong, 17, who resort of Qinhuangdao, some 270 kilo- stone’s path in an attempt to influence “All the sports which China is promot- in Harbin, where average daily tempera- said he hopes to “contribute to my metres (170 miles) from Beijing, to build its track without touching, or “burning”, ing are government-sponsored sports, tures plunge as low as -24 degrees motherland’s efforts” as part of the 2022 their strength with a type of tough gym- the rock. there is only a very small grass-roots Celsius (-11 Fahrenheit) in January. Olympic team competing on home terri- nastics called callisthenics. Icy nations such as Canada and sports movement in China,” said Xu “Most of the funding for curling tory. “It tests your thinking, and ability to “Curling is a gentle sport. It’s changed Sweden have long dominated the sport, Guoqi, a Hong Kong based professor comes from the government. No matter keep calm,” he said as the clunk of collid- my life,” said Liu after grimacing her way which secured an official Winter Olympic and author of a book on China’s Olympic if it’s money for training, competitions, ing stones echoed through the room. through an afternoon weightlifting ses- billing at Nagano in 1998. movement. coaches or players, it’s the state which Nearby, a banner next to a large Chinese sion under the watchful eye of coach But within a few years of the class in “In major Winter Olympic sports like provides a guarantee,” said the school’s flag read: “Health for the People, Glory in Zhang Wei. “I think the sport has really Harbin, Chinese teams were competing skiing, China will have trouble because it head Wang Jingang. Conditions on their the Olympics”.—AFP American Pharoah poised for more racing history NEW JERSEY: From a beauty salon in crossing a street in Zurich one day, a driver Beverly Hills to an intersection in Zurich rolled down his window and called out, “Go people are talking about American Pharoah, go!” In London, he said he was Pharoah. Derek Jeter. Carrie Underwood. recognized by a salesperson in Harrod’s Drew Brees. Even Cheech and Chong. All who told him, “I know you from the TV. You have chatted up either the owner, trainer or ... you won the three things. American jockey of American Pharoah in the weeks Pharoah, right?” after the horse became the first Triple At the ESPY’s, where Victor Espinoza Crown winner in 37 years with a sweep of won for best jockey, the Pharoah contin- the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and gent was approached by retired Yankees’ Belmont Stakes. “He’s captured the imagi- star Jeter, who wanted to pose for a picture. nation of the nation,” says Ahmed Zayat, Same with Yankees’ slugger Alex Rodriguez. the effusive Egyptian owner who travels “They are asking for a picture with us?” says the world on business and resides in Zayat. “Really?” Teaneck, New Jersey. “More than just a With social media and a 24/7 news cycle nation, if I dare say.” these days, American Pharoah may actually On Sunday, American Pharoah returns be more popular than Secretariat, the 1973 to the races in the $1.75 million Haskell Triple Crown winner many consider the Invitational at Monmouth Park, the Jersey greatest racehorse of all. Shore track a few furlongs from the home American Pharoah appears in the of rocker Bruce Springsteen, whose classic August issue of Vogue magazine. He was “Born to Run” has become the Haskell pre- paraded at Churchill Downs and Santa race anthem. Anita Park before tens of thousands of fans. On this day, though, Pharoah will be The Zayat was featured on “Secret Lives of the Boss. “We have a legend here with Super Rich.” Espinoza signed on with American Pharoah,” says Dennis Drazen, a Steiner Sports Marketing. A Pharoah web- management consultant to the track. site is a recent addition to the Twitter “People are going to be talking about accounts of Zayat and his son and racing being there the day American Pharoah ran manager, Justin. at Monmouth Park in the Haskell.” “People know what he’s doing every Thrilled to have American Pharoah, track step, and everybody knows where he is,” officials this week boosted the total purse says the white-haired Baffert. “I might as JOHANNESBURG: Team Africa’s Festus Ezeli (center) attempts a hook shot as Team World’s Paul Gasol (right) defends during the NBA Africa of the race by $750,000 to a record $1.75 well put a GPS on him. But he enjoys it and Game at Ellis Park Arena. —AP million. The winner’s share is $1.1 million. A so it’s fun to really share him with the fans.” record crowd approaching 60,000 is The goal is a final race in the $5 million expected. A three-day “Pharoah Phan Breeders’ Cup Classic at Keeneland in Phestival” began Friday, with giveaways, Lexington, Kentucky on Oct. 31. Then, it’s NBA’s current and former contests, and a chance for fans to watch off to the breeding shed down the road at American Pharoah on his morning gallops. Coolmore’s Ashford Stud. Plans have not About 5,000 showed up Friday. been set for a next race after the Haskell, stars put on show in Africa The Triple Crown winner is the over- but several are under consideration.

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