Shanghai SIPG's triumph caps best of Chinese sports in 2018
Shanghai SIPG is Chinese Super League champion.
Shanghai SIPG claimed its maiden Chinese Super League crown with a five-point advantage over defending champion Guangzhou Evergrande, ending the latter’s seven-year dominance of the top-tier league.
SIPG’s national striker Wu Lei became the 2018 CSL’s top scorer with 27 goals, six more than second-placed Changchun Yatai Nigerian striker Odion Ighalo. What gave Wu more pride was that the next 15 top scorers in the CSL were all foreigners.
The title was effectively in the bag for SIPG after it beat Fabio Cannavaro’s Evergrande 5-4 in a key match in Guangzhou to gain a five-point advantage with two matches remaining. SIPG was crowned champion at Shanghai Stadium with a 2-1 victory over Beijing Renhe in the second last round.
SIPG has been known for its striking ability with Wu, along with the Brazilian trio of Hulk, Oscar and Elkeson leading from the front. The club’s Portuguese head coach Vitor Pereira expressed his determination to lead the team to another title in 2019.
Shanghai’s other outfit Greenland Shenhua finished seventh in the 16-team league. On December 25, Shenhua named Spaniard Enrique “Quique” Sanchez Flores as its new head coach, replacing veteran Chinese manager Wu Jingui.
Also in December, the Chinese Football Association introduced salary and bonus caps, as well as curbs on financial investment on Chinese football clubs for the 2019 season in a bid to clamp down on lavish spending by clubs and create a sustainable environment for the domestic leagues.
China dominated the medals table of the 2018 Asian Games with sprinter Su Bingtian setting Asian Games record for men’s 100m.
Elsewhere, China once again called the shots at the Asian Games in Jakarta with a haul of 132 gold, 92 silver and 65 bronze medals.
The Asian sports powerhouse sent a relatively young delegation with 631 out of the 845-member squad neither having Asian Games or Olympic experience.
Su Bingtian won the men’s 100 meters on August 26 in an Asian Games record of 9.92 seconds. Two months ago, Su clocked 9.91 seconds in the men’s 100m at the Paris leg of the 2018 IAAF Diamond League, which tied the record created by the Nigerian-born Qatari Femi Ogunode in 2015.
It was also the 29-year-old’s first Asian Games gold medal. Hangzhou, the capital city of Zhejiang Province, will host the next Asian Games in 2022.
Skater Wu Dajing sets a world record at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games.
Chinese skater Wu Dajing won the country’s first Olympic gold medal in the men’s 500 meters short-track speedskating in South Korea on February 22, setting a world-record time of 39.584 seconds. The 23-year-old, who in qualifying broke the previous record set by American John Celski in 2012, went 0.216 seconds faster in the final.
Wu’s victory gave China its only gold medal at the PyeongChang Games, and it came in the sprint race the nation had never won at the Olympics. China pocketed six silver and two bronze medals.
A total of 92 countries and regions took part in the PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games.
Norway led the total medal tally with 39, followed by Germany’s 31 and Canada’s 29.
The next Winter Olympic Games will be held in Beijing in 2022, making the Chinese capital the first city to host both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games.
Many venues planned for Beijing 2022 are legacies from the 2008 Summer Olympic Games, such as the National Stadium (Bird’s Nest) and the National Aquatics Center (Water Cube).
Chinese basketball enjoys big success on the Asian stage. A new men’s national team has been formed for the 2019 World Cup on home soil.
China won all four basketball gold medals at the Jakarta Asian Games — the long-coveted men and women’s titles, as well as tasting success in the men and women’s 3 vs 3. Both the men and women’s teams waited eight years to win an Asian Games gold medal.
Chinese Basketball Association President Yao Ming said the next goal for the men’s team is to become the best Asian team in the 2019 World Cup, and to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games and win at least one match there.
Yao revolutionized the men’s national team in 2017 by separating it into two squads, which were led by two separate groups of coaches, and represented China in international competitions by turn. At the end of September, the two teams were combined into one, and Li Nan, one of the two national coaches, was named the new head coach.
The merger was aimed to get the Chinese national team ready for the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup, which will be held from August 31 to September 15 in Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing (Jiangsu Province), and Wuhan (Hubei Province), as well as in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Foshan and Dongguan, all in Guangdong Province.
China will be hosting the tournament for the first time. The 2019 edition will see the teams expanded from the previous 24 to 32.
Former table tennis national team chief Liu Guoliang made a return to the sport’s association after a 15-month leave.
China’s table tennis legend Liu Guoliang announced his return to the Chinese Table Tennis Association in September, 15 months after the Grand Slam champion-turned coach took leave from the sport.
The 42-year-old Liu was elected as the new president of the CTTA on December 1 as the sole nominee, alongside five vice presidents.
Liu, who won the men’s singles and doubles gold medals at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, was appointed to coach the Chinese national men’s team at the age of 27 in 2003. He then became the chief coach of the national team in 2013 while also taking the helm of the men’s team.
In April 2017, Liu remained as chief coach for the national team while Qin Zhijian became the head coach for the men’s team.
Two months later, the national team chief coach position was withdrawn, and Liu was named as one of the CTTA vice presidents, a move he was not comfortable with.
In protest against the CTTA’s decision, three players and two coaches pulled out of the China Open in Chengdu on June 23, 2017.
Liu said later that he was not aware of any plans about their withdrawals, but still felt responsible for it.
Under Liu’s reign, China, which has won 28 out of the 32 gold medals that have been awarded since table tennis became an Olympic sport in 1988, extended its dominance for a decade by taking all 12 golds on offer in the last three Olympic Games.
Liu said his priority as the CTTA president would be to prepare for Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, and the authority’s management restructuring to promote the sport’s professionalism, industrialization and globalization.
Wang Shuang is named AFC Women’s Player of the Year.
Chinese footballer Wang Shuang was named Asian Football Confederation Women’s Player of the Year at the AFC Annual Awards ceremony in Muscat, Oman, on November 28.
Wang becomes the fourth Chinese player to win the award, after Sun Wen, Bai Jie and Ma Xiaoxu.
The 23-year-old was part of the Chinese team that finished third in the Women’s Asian Cup and took the silver medal in the Asian Games. The third place finish at Asian Cup assured China a slot in the 2019 World Cup.
At club level, Wang joined French powerhouse Paris Saint-Germain earlier this year and became the first Chinese goalscorer in the UEFA Women’s Champions League.
Wang Qiang enters top 20 in WTA ranking.
Chinese tennis player Wang Qiang had an impressive season in 2018. She won the singles gold medal at the Asian Games, overcoming compatriot Zhang Shuai in the final.
She also won two WTA international titles — the first in July at the Jiangxi International Women’s Open, and the second in September at the Guangzhou International Women’s Open.
She reached a career-high ranking of world No. 34 after the Guangzhou title and replaced Zhang Shuai as China’s top player.
Wang then reached the semifinal of the Wuhan Open and the final of the Hong Kong Open, and made it to the 2018 WTA Elite Trophy main draw. On November 5, 2018, the 26-year-old reached her best singles ranking of world No. 20.
ESports teams shine on international stage.
Chinese eSports team Royal Never Give Up (RNG) claimed their first world championship at the 2018 League of Legends Mid-season Invitational, beating the South Korean team KING-ZONE DragonX (KZ) on May 30.
On November 3, Chinese eSports team Invictus Gaming overcame Europe’s Fnatic in the finals of the 2018 League of Legends World Championship in South Korea.
It was the first time LPL (China) as a region won the world championship, as well as the first time a non-LCK (Korean) team won after five consecutive years of Korean championship.
