Li Na is a candid person, I believe. Its perfectly fine not to thank the Chinese govt. as pointed out by the state media. However, Chinas detractors should not simply put words into the mouth of the Chinese state media as you would want it to you. Tennis is basically still a sport of the affluent in China and most other places. Coming probably from a family with a modest background, could she have risen to prominence without near consistent backing by the State? Would she have become a Commercial success without the support of a Billion+ Chinese home market? I mean, they have better sports stars, including those in the field of tennis in the US, havent they? In addition, any neutral critics of the Chinese State sporting system mustnt turn a blind eye to the rapid Chinese ascent to Olympic success. Heres an excerpt from Wiki: Personal life[edit] Li Na was born on 26 February, 1982 in Wuhan, Hubei, China. Her mother is Li Yanping (李豔萍);[1] her father, Li Shengpeng (李盛鹏), was a professional badminton player and later worked as a sales rep for a Wuhan-based company. He died from a rare cardiovascular disease when Li was fourteen.[2][3] At age six, Li followed her fathers footsteps and started playing badminton, which honed her reflexes.[4] Just before she turned eight, Li was persuaded to switch to tennis by coach Xia Xiyao of the Wuhan youth tennis club.[5] Her instructors taught tennis through negative reinforcement, which affected Lis confidence in later years.[6] Li joined Chinas National Tennis Team in 1997. The following year, Li, sponsored by Nike, went to John Newcombe Academy in Texas to study tennis.[7] She studied there for 10 months and returned to China.[8] Growing up, her favourite tennis player was Andre Agassi.[9] She turned professional in 1999 at the age of sixteen. At the end of 2002, Li left the national tennis team to study part-time at Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), where she completed her bachelors degree in journalism in 2009. The Chinese media cited various reasons for this. Some reported that the relationship between her and her teammate and future husband, Jiang Shan (姜山), was opposed by the national teams management,[10] some reported that her coach, Yu Liqiao (余丽桥), was too strict and demanding, while other reports claimed that her request for a personal coach did not go through.[11][12] However, some regarded that it was just the health problem leading to the retirement.[13] The New York Times reported that one of the reasons was that a team leader wanted her to play through by taking hormone medicine[3] as Li struggled with her performance due to hormone imbalance.[14] Li returned to the national team in 2004. Jiang Shan married Li on 27 January 2006, and became her personal coach. Li quit the national team[15] as well as the state-run sports system in 2008 under an experimental reform policy for tennis players. This change was called Fly Solo (单飞) by Chinese media.[10][16] As a result, Li had the freedom to hire her own coaching staff and she would be solely responsible for the cost of training and coaching and tour expense. She could keep more of her winnings,[17] with only 8 percent of her winnings going to the Chinese Tennis Association development fund as opposed to 65 percent previously.[18] In the summer of 2012, the requirement of contribution to the Chinese tennis development fund was lifted and Li can keep all her prize money.[19] Li has a rose tattoo on her chest, but kept it hidden for many years since tattoos are widely unaccepted in China, especially on women.[20] As JFK might have said, Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.
Posted on: Thu, 01 Jan 2015 00:58:09 +0000
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