BomBomBomB
   
Olympic Champ
 
Injuries-Laden Deng Yaping Vows to Fight On
�� By Sportswriter Cao Jianjie
BEIJING, November 19 (Xinhua) -- From neck to back, wrist to
elbow, knees to ankles, rarely a joint in her body is injury-free.
She can hardly pick up chopsticks for meal after an extra session
of training she pushes herself to limits.
National champion at 13, Asian champion at 15, world champion
at 16, dual Olympic champion at 19, double Olympic titlist again
and World Cup winner at 23. She's got them all but she won't rest on her laurels.
Deng Yaping, the most-crowned table tennis player in the world vows to fight on.
"I won't retire soon even though I often feel worn out and badly
want a rest," said Deng, who has bagged 14 world titles and four
Olympic gold medals in a career spanning 10 years.
Deng, who grabbed the inaugural women's World Cup late September,
is to defend her world singles title for the second straight time
in the 1997 championships in Manchester, England.
Also, She has her eye on more gold medals in the 2000 Olympics,
brushing off suggestion from friends that she should withdraw at
the peak of career to avoid possible humiliation.
"My personal fame or shame doesn't matter," she said. "If my
country needs me, I won't call it quits."
Certainly China needs players like Deng. Nerves steady, style
aggressive and ranked world No. 1 spot for six years, Deng is hardly replaceable.
"A few Chinese youngsters may be technically better than Deng,
but in terms of mentality and experience, there is no match," said
Zhang Xielin, Deng's mentor for eight years.
China is never short of good young women players. Wang Chen,
21, Yang Ying, 18, and Wang Nan, 18, are from fifth to seventh in
the latest world rankings. But they will have to toughen their
nerves before they take international responsibility.
After an unimpressive European tour by these youngsters early
this year, none of them made the Olympic squad.
Deng and other three veterans, the same four Olympians to Barcelona, hit on the road to Atlanta.
"To find someone to take place of Deng Yaping is a problem,"said
Yao Zhenxu, a top official with the Chinese Table Tennis Association.
"Deng is the toughest-minded and the most hard working in the Chinese team," Yao added.
In the training camps leading to the 1996 Olympics, Deng had
spent more time close to table than any other Atlanta-bound athletes.
She had to change her sweat-soaked clothes five or six times for a two-session training day.
Years of Spartan training and nerve-racking competitions have
taken a toll on Deng, who has, more than once, sprained her ankles,
strained her back, twisted her wrist and injured her knees.
"Deng deserves all these titles," said Zhang Xielin. "She has
paid far more than anyone else."
Steel nerves under pressure is an asset for Deng and has carried
her through numerous difficult times.
"The pressure means one has to concentrate on each ball, have
the will to win and not let a single ball go astray," she said.
The 23-year-old Chinese has commanded respect and revere among table tennis players.
"She had a killing instinct and held me in awe," lamented Swedish
Asa Svensson after losing a round-robin match to Deng in the Olympics.
Being aggressive is the only way for Deng to prevail.
Standing just one meter fourty nine, Deng has to take initiative
in attacking. Once forced into defensive, she can hardly turn the table.
Deng's father taught her to play table tennis when she could
barely held the racket at age 5. Adapting to her short stature,she
uses the tennis grip with her right hand to play a fast attacking game interspersed with loops.
Deng kept close to the table to set up continuous attacks,bringing
out the characteristic features of the Chinese game --ferocity,
speed, accuracy and flexibility.
There is a popular saying that Deng has benefited from her short
figure because she sees every return as high ball and can easily make a kill.
Deng begged to disagree.
"Tall player always has an advantage," she said. "I have to make
a quick killing shot before opponent forces me into rallies or defensive.
There is simply too much wear on my body."
Deng's racket is surfaced with reversed rubber for forehand play
and with long-pimpled rubber for backhand strokes, the latter she
uses only as a transitional means before making an attack.
Play with long-pimpled rubber, a weapon invented by the Chinese
and more used by defender than attacker, can produce deceptive spin.
Deng's unique block-and-attack style often caught her rivals nonplused
at the beginning of her career.
But with more players accustomed to her style, Deng found it
increasingly difficult to win a title. She is no longer invincible in China nor in the world.
Prior to the Barcelona Olympic Games, Deng lost three times to
a Chinese penholding player; in the tune-up tournaments for the
Atlanta Games, she lost to five different teammates.
"Deng had once felt frustrated," recalled Chinese coach Lu Yuansheng.
"But she regained confidence after improving the precision and ferocity
of forehand attacks through hard training."
The most-hyped defeat of Deng Yaping came at the 1994 Asian Games
in Hiroshima, Japan, where the odds-on favorite lost the singles
final to Chire Koyama, who had won a world championship for China
in her maiden name of He Zhili before becoming Japanese citizen.
The snatch of the Olympic singles gold in Atlanta is the sweetest moment for Deng Yaping.
Held to two-all, Deng kept composure to beat Chinese Taipei's
Chen Jing in the deciding set, allowing the 1988 Olympic champion just five points.
Off court, Deng Yaping is a kind, polite and book-loving lady.
She is a consistent donor to the Hope Project, a national fund to
help dropouts resume schooling.
This summer, Deng alone sponsored six former dropouts to return
to school and donated parts of her cash awards to victims of flood in South China.
World No. 2 Qiao Hong, Deng's doubles partner as well as her
closest rival, gets along with Deng well, saying the honest and
forthright Deng makes a good friend.
As more Chinese table tennis players have joined gold rush overseas,
either playing for foreign clubs or even switching their citizenship, Deng remains home-bound.
"I doesn't have a plan to join foreign club, neither will I change
my allegiance to China," she said. Enditem
 
Gulls Laugh at You
Laughing Gulls Grace China's Spring City
�� By He Ying and Cao Jianjie
KUNMING, Yunnan province, November 7 (Xinhua) -- "Gao-ga-ga",
"gao-ga-ga", sounding like a crowd of joking and laughing people,
hundreds and thousands black-headed gulls (larus ridbunduss or red-beaked
gulls as they are called in China) hover freely over Kunming. Many
of them sport in the Green Lake Park or over the Panlong River in
the heart of the perennially warm "Spring City".
Black-headed gulls have become a familiar sight for people in
Kunming since their first visit stirred the city in 1985. The number
of gulls in the city has increased steadily in the recent years.
A common explanation for the rise in the gull population is the
lasting hospitality of Kunming people.
"The black-headed gull is a commons and it has won the nickname
of the 'laughing gull' for its screeches of excitements," said Wang
Zijiang, a biology professor at Yunnan University and president
of the Kunming Bird Society. "When winter approaches, the gulls
start their migration from north to south. Quite a lot of them
settle on rivers and lakes in South China."
"Gulls usually shy away from the hubbub of the cities," the biologist
said. "It's rare in China for large numbers of black-headed gulls to venture into a city."
With greyish-white feathers, strong wings and well-proportioned
bodies like pigeons, the gulls wheel leisurely in flocks over the
Nantai Bridge on the Panlong River. Their wings occasionally touch
the heads of people leaning against the bridge-railing watching them.
When people on the bridge throw breadcrumbs into the air, the
gulls, circling with ease, dash for them. The gull which catches
the air-borne food gives out a loud "ga" to the kind feeder.
In a gentle breeze, the gulls hovering over the river or gliding
on the water shoot up in one direction, forming a huge white net
in the sky. The net seems to be woven with a myriad of waving ribbons, glistening in the sun.
Green Lake Park is another major haunt for black-headed gulls
because of its lush vegetation and calm water, and the generosity
of parkgoers and keeper in giving food.
Visitors sit on the lakeshore, chatting and admiring gulls chasing
on another in the sky or frolicking in the water.
Children still in the arms of their parents blow kisses at the
gulls or throw breadcrumbs to those that dare to get close enough.
"The gulls have become a lucky omen for people in Kunming," said
a park tender. "Many people have had their family photos taken with
gulls flying in the background, waiting here all day long just to get a good snapshot."
The first batch of black-headed gulls flew into Kunming in November,
1985. Their sudden visit interested the whole city.
These "adventures" came from Dianchi Lake, a 300-square-kilometer
winter habitat for gulls, which lies to the south of Kunming.
In the winter of 1985, there was a severe change in the weather
over South China. In central Yunnan, where Dianchi Lake is situated,
it was warmer than usual, while the temperature plummeted in Southeast
China, another area for gulls to take refuge over the winter.
So the Dianchi Lake attracted nearly 10,000 gulls that year,
10 times more than previously. The suddenly boosted population
resulted in an acute population shortage of food and the amount
of fish and shrimps in the lake dropped sharply.
This had forced a large number of gulls to leave the lake and
flow into the city to look for living space and food, said Professor Wang.
At dawn, flocks of gulls wing their way into the city. They
leave at sunset. They huddle together on the Dianchi Lake, where
it is warmer than on the land at night.
When spring comes, the fully recuperated gulls head northwards
for breeding. Some of them go as far as Siberia. In February,
1987 a gull was found to be wearing an identification ring engraved with the word "Moscow".
"The gulls set off for the north from February to March and the
journey is rough and dangerous," Wang said. "Many of them may die
of exhaustion during the long flight. These that survive may live as long as 30 years."
Both local people and visitors to Kunming hate to see the gulls
leave. They crowded at the gulls rendezvous spots to take photos
and generously feed them, hoping that the birds might stay because
of people's double hospitality.
"I feel lost when the gulls leave," said Li Liao, a local as
well as a Yi Minority who called himself "gull-lover". Enditem
 
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