Alphabet soup of Chinese hope

A -lian, the Chinese nickname for 19-year-old basketball sensation Yi Jianlian. The 2.12m power forward was drafted by Milwaukee Bucks as the sixth pick during the 2007 NBA Draft on June 28. Yi averaged 24.9 points, 11.5 rebounds and 1.8 block shots a game in the 2005-06 season for the Guangdong Southern Tigers, where he helped the team win three China Basketball Association (CBA) championships in five years.

Bai Anqi, a 14-year-old swimming prodigy from Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province. The backstroke specialist made the provincial team at the age of 10 and won a silver medal at the National Games two years later. She qualified as the fastest woman in the 200m backstroke for the Doha Asian Games last year but narrowly missed a medal in the final.

Du Li, a 25-year-old champion shooter from Shandong Province. Since winning the first gold medal of the 2004 Athens Olympics, she has etched herself into China's shooting history by achieving a stunning grand slam in the women's air rifle. She won the air rifle World Cup twice, in 2004 and 2005, and completed her grand slam by winning the 2006 World Championships in Zagreb, Croatia. Du, the International Shooting Sports Federation Shooter of the Year in 2006, could win her second Olympic title in Beijing if she keeps a grip on her form.

Equestrian, a sport in which Chinese riders are likely to make history by marking their Olympic debut next year. Hua Tian, a 17-year-old Eton schoolboy, is billed as China's top prospect. Hua is the first Chinese rider registered by the International Equestrian Federation and also the first Chinese to compete in an international equestrian competition at the three-day event. China has been given six berths in equestrian as the host country and Hua is likely to become the first Chinese rider to compete at the Olympics.

Guo Jingjing, China's diving diva and the Athens Games double gold medalist. At 26, she is already one of the country's most successful female divers, ranking alongside the likes of Gao Min and Fu Mingxia. She in fact surpassed Gao as the most successful female diver at the Asian Games after she won the 3m synchronized springboard event in Doha last year. She also became the first diver in world championships history to win four consecutive individual golds, a feat she achieved at the Melbourne Worlds in March. Two more golds at Beijing 2008 would see her overtake Fu as the nation's most successful Olympic diver.

Huang Xiaoxiao, the 24-year-old hurdler from the coastal city of Qingdao. Huang has improved dramatically since winning a silver medal at China's 2001 National Games at 18. She has made increasing ripples in international competitions and reached her career high by finishing fifth in the women's 400m hurdles at the 2005 World Championships, the best record to date for Chinese athletes.

Igor Grinko, the 60-year-old Lithuanian coach for the Chinese rowing team. As a close friend of Polish-American Kris Korzeniowski, the Polish-American who coached China to its gold medals at the 1994 World Championships, Grinko has achieved similar success in China by helping the team to win three golds and a silver at the Eton World Rowing Championships last August, the nation's best-ever results. Having coached dozens of medal boats in more than 10 Summer Olympics, Grinko is optimistic he can help China win its first rowing gold in 2008.

Jia Tong, a 17-year-old diver from Sichuan Province. The petite talent established herself in 2004 by winning five gold medals at the individual and synchronized platform at World Cup tournaments. Although she has yet to win an individual world title on the platform, she has proven her ability by winning back-to-back synchronized diving titles in the past two World Championships (with Yuan Peilin in 2005, and Chen Ruolin in 2007).

Kim Chang-back and Kim Sang-ryul, the South Korean field hockey coaching duo who now work with China's women's and men's team, respectively. The two 51-year-olds have managed to lift both Chinese squads from obscurity to world acclaim. Chang-back saw China's women finish fifth at the 2000 Sydney Games and fourth in Athens, as well as steering them to two Asian Games titles and a Champions trophy in 2002. Sang-ryul also put the men's squad into orbit with a silver medal at the 2006 Doha Games and, most recently, a four-nation invitational title in May. They are both hoping for medals in Beijing.

Ma Lin, a 27-year-old table tennis veteran and current world No 1. The diligent paddler is considered one the world's best and has won the World Cup four times (2000, 2003, 2004, 2006). However, his luck has tended to run out at the Olympics, particularly in singles play. He narrowly missed making it to Sydney and he crashed out in the first round at the 2004 Athens Games, something that not even the doubles gold he subsequently won with Chen Qi could compensate for.

N i Wei, a 16-year-old sailing sensation from Shanghai. Like most of China' established senior sailors, Ni began his successful career from an early age. As a 13-year-old, Ni clinched the world title in the men's Optimist Class at the 2004 World Championships and he also won the Asian Games title last year at the age of 15. Although OP is not an Olympic event, Ni is likely to follow the steps of his Shanghai-born teammate Xu Lijia, who grew from an OP world champion into a senior world champion sailor by taking the 2006 world title in the women's laser radial class.

Ouyang Xiaofang, a 24-year-old female weightlifter and 2006 world champion in the 63kg class. Ouyang reached her career pinnacle at the 2006 World Championships by winning three gold medals but suffered a heart-breaking defeat at the Doha Asian Games when she tore her knee during her second clean-and-jerk attempt to finish second behind Thailand's Olympic champion Pawina Thongsuk for silver. Now she is struggling to recover from the knee injury but remains a gold prospect if she can recover in time.

P eng Shuai, a 21-year-old tennis ace and current world No 54. The talented Hunan Province local was the first Chinese player to defeat world top 10 players and make it to the semifinal of a top-tier WTA event. Peng has, however, been plagued by injuries and was involved in an ugly bust-up with the Chinese Tennis Association over issues like coaching and prize money. Now she is coming back from a serious knee injury and her new coach, former world No 2 Michael Chang, could help Peng become a force to be reckoned with in both singles and doubles play at the Beijing Games.

Que Zhicheng, a 22-year-old star on the trampoline. Que made a name for himself by defeating a pool of talent at the Doha Asian Games last December including world No 1 Yasuhiro Ueyama of Japan and Chinese teammate Lu Chunlong in the final. The significance of the title is amplified knowing that Ueyama had dominated the event for the whole of the 2006 season.

Ratomir Dujkovic, the 60-year-old Serbian soccer guru. From Myanmar to Rwanda, Venezuela to Ghana, the former Red Star Belgrade goalkeeper has shaped up soccer teams around the world and has, since 2004, taken the reins of China's Olympic team. Despite a long run of disastrous performances from the national side, Dujkovic's squad has made some remarkable achievements including a runner-up finish at the Toulun U-21 Tournament earlier this year in France. Considering the age restriction in Olympic soccer that gives teams like China, who are strong at the youth level, an advantage, Chinese soccer fans may not have to hang their heads in shame next summer in Beijing.

Su Lihui, the 22-year-old female wrestler from Guangdong Province. Su became China's national champion in 2005 but has never won a world title. The all-conquering Japanese wrestlers have always kept her at bay, with Athens Olympic champion Saori Yoshida holding her off at the 2005 World Championships in the 55kg class, then Ayako Shoda doing the same at the 2006 worlds in the heavier 59kg division. Su will try to put an end to Japan's dominance at the event for the Beijing Games, as her teammate Wang Xu managed during the 2004 Athens by defeating five-time world champion Kyoko Hamaguchi in the semifinal before winning gold.

Tan Xue, the 23-year-old female sabre fencer from Tianjin. Tan should have won a gold medal at the Athens Games after eliminating several top-ranked fencers but lost her focus in the final against Mariel Zagunis of the United States to lose 15-9 for silver. After Frenchman Christian Bauer joined the Chinese camp as coach last year, Tan gradually picked up her form and her confidence. She has won five consecutive titles from the World Cup tournament this season and now ranks second in the world. Now she has set her sights firmly on gold medals in Beijing, both at the individual and team events.

Underdogs. Never underestimate the Chinese when they are competing on home soil. Having a home advantage is often a recipe for sporting miracles in Olympic history. Greek divers Thomas Bimis and Nikolaos Siranidis stole gold at the men's 3m synchronized springboard after the leading Chinese pair slipped up on their final jump for a zero score that saw them miss out on a podium finish. From cycling to beach volleyball, and archery to modern pentathlon, local Chinese athletes could emerge as dark horses given their familiarity and training time at the Olympic venues prior to the Beijing Games.

Volleyball, one of the few team sports where China is hopeful of a gold medal at the Beijing Games. Athens Olympic champion team coach Chen Zhonghe is leading a reshuffled team into 2008 and trying to duplicate its surprising victory in Athens. The new team is shaping up well so far this season and has already bagged the Swiss Masters and President Cup in Russia. As always, injury is a major concern and the squad has already lost two of its leading players because of this.

Wu Jingyu, a 20-year-old taekwondo athlete from Jiangxi Province. In 2003, she was unstoppable in national tournaments as a fearsome 16-year-old, but she did not really come into her own until winning the national championships and an historic world junior championships gold in 2004, thus earning her a spot on the national team. After winning her class at the Asian Games in December, the self-disciplined fighter also took the 47kg title at the Beijing World Championships earlier this year, making her selection for China's 2008 Olympic team a safe bet.

Yao Ming, Houston Rockets' center and China's biggest sporting icon. There is no doubt about Yao's ability but the problem is how much support he can get from his teammates at the Beijing Games. The quality of the team will be a deciding factor in how far China advances on home soil, with some problems already evident in its mixed bag of performances at the 2006 World Championships, where China made it to the last 16. Yao anchored China to see it make the final eight in Athens but this will hardly satisfy the 26-year-old, the team or the fans in Beijing.

Zou Shiming, a 26-year-old light flyweight boxer and Athens bronze medalist. Zou put Chinese boxing on the world map in 2003 by winning a bronze at the World Championships. He then went one step further at the 2004 Athens Olympics by grabbing China's first Olympic bronze medal. Zou has gone from strength to strength, capturing gold at the 2005 Worlds in China and winning the Doha Asian Games last December.

Text by Yu Yilei

(China Daily 08/08/2007 page26)