讨鬼传极 迅弓:Will cricket open up a new vista for China-In...

来源：百度文库 编辑：九乡新闻网 时间：2024/04/28 10:49:56

Will cricket open up a new vista for China-India ties ?

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Cricket is biding its time in China since it arrived five years ago. “If cricket enters the Olympics it will transform into a mass phenomenon in China,’’ Zhang Tian, deputy secretary-general of the Chinese Cricket Association, told HT in his office on a Beijing street lined with Olympics bureaus.


Imagine an India-China face-off in the distant future. “Global revenues for cricket will increase by 30-40% once China becomes an established cricketing nation either as a venue, participant or breeding ground for cricketers in the decades ahead,” the Asian Cricket Council website quotes its chief executive Syed Ashraful Huq saying.


Games were in progress on about 100 ping pong tables in the Shenyang Sports University. There was no cricket pitch in sight.


"I knew nothing about cricket except that India and Pakistan are good at it," said Ge Tao, a fan of Harbhajan Singh who practised his cricket with video games.


Shenyang, a Hyderabad-sized vertical city in the northeast, is China’s new cricket factory.


Chinese cricketers are being churned out of its sports university renowned for producing winter Olympics champions more than suntanned players.


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Shenyang is the capital of Liaoning province which has a history of sports. Most cricketers are Liaoning locals. At age 17-18, players are being pulled out of basketball, soccer, table-tennis and volleyball departments to play cricket, a sport with no career prospects yet.


“The short-term goal is developing the women’s team,’’ said Zhang. “The long-term goal is the men’s team because continuity is important. The men start playing under 19 years and continue for some more years. The women drop out of cricket after graduation.”


Shenyang cricketers are born bowling tennis balls at yellow and blue plastic stumps on indoor volleyball courts.


Equipment gifted from Pakistan and India is in short supply so the players wait excitedly for a tournament and the chance to don cricket gear.


“I dream of the day cricket will be as popular in China as it is in India,’’ said national womens’ captain Wang Meng, who learnt to bowl when she was 18. The Saurav Ganguly fan had to relearn basics like her running speed and technique to transit from a small volleyball court to a vast cricket field.

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China’s first cricket ground was prepared in southern Guangzhou for cricket’s debut in the event. The girls wept when they lost the bronze to arch rivals Japan.


Pakistan has usurped India in cricket diplomacy with China. Javed Miandad is cricket ambassador to the world’s most populous country where the sport is virtually unknown despite its frenzied worship across the border in India. Rashid Khan coaches the Chinese men’s team.


Indian Mamatha Maben coached the women’s team ahead of the Asian Games. Asked what she remembers about India, Wang described a ‘beautiful cricket ground’ and ‘people playing cricket everywhere’. Her team briefly trained in India in Punjab and Guntur in 2009 and 2010. There are no more plans to collaborate.


“The Indians and Chinese communicated with mostly sign language,’’ said Ge, the team’s only English speaker. When they said farewells, a few Indian girls shed tears. Bringing Indian cricket stars to China sounds good for diplomacy but officials point out that the Chinese won’t even recognise them.


The two captains are preparing for new jobs as official coaches to tour Chinese schools and create cricketers. “Someday, I hope China will play against India in the World Cup,’’ said Wang. “We will win.’



Will cricket act as a diplomatic tool, as table tennis did between China and US in 1970s, to enhance the people- to- people communication between China and India ?
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