A Deep Pool of Talent >> DOHA GAMES SWIMMING
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NOVEMBER 12, 20 CHINA DAILY PAGE 4 ASIAD AQUATICS CHRISTOPHE SIMON / AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE China’s Zhang Lin celebrates after winning the men’s 800m freestyle fi nal in a world record time of 7:32.12 on July 29, 2009 at the FINA World Swimming Championships in Rome. BY THE NUMBERS A deep pool of talent >> DOHA GAMES SWIMMING CHINESE TO GO HEAD TO HEAD WITH JAPAN AND REPUBLIC OF KOREA FOR SWIMMING GLORY 16 By LEI LEI and support of the people. We must Another challenge will come Chinese team is ourselves,” said gold CHINA DAILY beat them, and all of us are confi dent from Beijing Olympic 400m free- team leader Zhou Jihong. “We we can,” Yao said. style gold medalist, ROK’s Park. hope our athletes will do their GUANGZHOU — One of the “We hope the men’s team will Zhang will meet Park — who beat best. If they perform at their best, greatest rivalries at the Guangzhou make a breakthrough and that the him in the 400m by 0.58 seconds to no matter if they win or not, it will Asian Games will be on display in women don’t make mistakes. Let’s win the Olympic gold medal in Bei- be good.” the swimming pool. wait and see how the two teams jing — in the 200m, 400m, 1,500m Since fi rst taking part in the div- 21 The Chinese team will face a perform at the competition.” and 4x200m relay. ing events at the 1974 Asian Games, silver strong challenge from neighboring The Chinese team comprises On the women’s side, world the Chinese team has swept all the Japan, while China’s leading swim- a mixture of veterans and young champion Liu Zige will be absent, gold medals in the sport. mer, world champion Zhang Lin, talent. but her teammate, Jiao Liuyang, They bagged 10 gold medals will meet archrival Park Tae-hwan Besides Zhang, the men’s side the Beijing Olympic silver medal- during the 2006 Asiad and domi- of the Republic of Korea (ROK). includes Chen Zuo, the defending ist in the women’s 200m butterfl y, nated the podium at the Beijing 6 Th e home team’s head coach is champion in the 100m freestyle, and will lead a team that also includes Olympics. bronze already feeling the pressure. Wu Peng, the 2006 Short Course rising stars Zhao Jing and Li Amid its gold rush in Doha four “On one hand, we have to beat World Championships 200m but- Zhesi. years ago, China also took six silver, the Japanese, while on the other, we terfl y champion and also an Asian Competing in women’s 50m, giving it 16 medals overall. have to test the young swimmers for Games champion. 100m and 200m butterfly, Jiao is Proving its global stranglehold the 2012 London Olympic Games. Competing at his third Asian ready to win a hat-trick of gold on the sport, China went on to take Th ere will be big challenge for us (in Games, Wu, who trained in the medals. seven out of eight gold on home soil DIVING Guangzhou),” said Yao Zhengjie. United States for seven months Meanwhile the Chinese diving at the 2008 Olympics, missing out At the Doha Asian Games four this year, will tackle Japan’s Takeshi team is out to continue its Asian only on the men’s 10m platform, years ago, China and Japan shared Matsuda, the silver medalist at the Games domination. where it took silver. 10 the same number of gold medals in Beijing Olympic Games, in the Although the team will be with- Chinese divers also bagged seven gold the pool. Th e head coach expects to men’s 200m butterfl y. out diving queen Guo Jingjing, it golds at last year’s world champion- beat Japan in the home pool this “Actually, Matsuda is stronger still boasts Olympic champion Wu ships in Rome and another seven time. than me right now … but the result Minxia, who will compete in the at the World Cup on home soil in “Although the Japanese team will depend on how we perform at women’s 1m springboard. Changzhou earlier this year, where 6 is strong, we have the favorable the time,” said Wu. “I have a good “No matter at the Asian Games again it fell one place short in the silver climate and geographical position chance to defend the title.” or Olympics, the only rival for the men’s 10m platform..