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Star twins to face tough challengers

By Tang Zhe (China Daily)
Updated: 2011-04-27 16:49

BEIJING - Returning to the pool after a five-month break due to injury, the Chinese synchronized swimming duo of Jiang Wenwen and Jiang Tingting found out it is no longer the peerless team of the pool at the 2011 China Synchronized Swimming Open in Beijing, which was held from April 22-25.

The twin sisters, once regarded as China's first and only choice to compete at international events, were forced to skip the national team's winter training due to an accumulation of injuries.

At their first appearance after the Guangzhou Asiad, they were overshadowed by national teammates Liu Ou, Huang Xuechen in duet tech, and suffered another close loss to Liu and Luo Qian in duet free.

"We are satisfied with our performance because we have been busy preparing a new program and haven't spent much time practicing the old one," the 24-year-old twins said. "We also suffered serious injuries in the past few months, so we were not fully prepared for this tournament."

Under the guidance of Japanese coach Masayo Imura, the swimmers, renowned for their slender builds, finished fourth at the Beijing Olympics and then claimed two bronze medals at the 2009 Roma World Championships - in duet tech and duet free.

Their career peak, to date, came in 2010 when they won the country's first synchronized swimming world title at the Changshu World Cup and then went on to collect more gold at the Guangzhou Asiad.

However, young swimmers are rising quickly and the twins will face a tough fight for a berth at the World Championships, which will be held in Shanghai in July.

The sisters, who represented Sichuan province, have no idea if they will take part at the World Championships, but are very keen to join the national team again.

"Born as twins, we feel we are congenitally inferior to other swimmers in physical fitness and years of injuries have made it worse," said elder sister Jiang Wenwen. "It's really hard for us to recover our form we are still not at our best.

"Still, the rise of other pairs reflects the improvement of Chinese synchronized swimming. We have carried the burden in the past and it's now good to see the improvement of the youngsters," Jiang Wenwen said. "No matter who represents China at the World Championships, the most important thing is for China to win."

China Daily