Chinese striker Zhang fires back to critics over team training video

BEIJING - Chinese forward Zhang Yuning has hit back at critics over a team training video, claiming some fans are ignorant.

The 25-year-old striker on Monday posted on social media some screenshots of a video that shows the Chinese men's national team stretching with a caption: the Chinese men's team are training hard like the devil.

"This was the sixth time we underwent quarantine after coming back to China (from FIFA World Cup qualifiers). This time we stayed in isolation in Hainan for 21 days," he wrote.

"We trained at 11 am with the temperature reaching 36 degrees Celsius and the sun baking overhead," he wrote.

He then accused the video poster of deliberately defaming the Chinese side which failed to qualify for this year's World Cup finals.

"How can you use this video which you cut out from one of our warm-ups to incite wilful barbs against us from those people who are unaware of what has gone on? How ignorant you all are!" he wrote.

Zhang Yuning, Wu Xi and Zhang Linpeng have been called up by the Chinese under-23 team as overage players to prepare for this year's Asian Games scheduled to take place in September in Hangzhou, China.

The Chinese players have been released to their clubs after having served out their mandatory quarantine in Haikou, Hainan.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic wreaking havoc, the kickoff date of the 2022 Chinese Super League season remains undecided.