- Title: CHINA: RUGBY: Rugby players in China hope to play in Olympics.
- Date: 9th September 2009
- Summary: FEMALE PLAYERS RUNNING IN RING PLAYERS' FEET RUNNING PLAYERS THROWING BALL PLAYERS RUNNING AND THROWING BALL TO EACH OTHER PLAYERS CATCHING BALL AND RUNNING PLAYERS' FACES 25-YEAR-OLD PLAYER BAI YING AND TWO OTHER PLAYERS THROWING BALL\ BALL IN BAI'S HANDS (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) 25-YEAR-OLD PLAYER BAI YING SAYING: "Everyone thinks it's weird for women to play rugb
- Embargoed: 24th September 2009 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: China
- Country: China
- Topics: Sports
- Reuters ID: LVACKU3QIC355MX119VU6DSGIVMZ
- Story Text: Few will be sweating as much over next month's decision on the inclusion of rugby in the Olympics than the band of enthusiasts who have run the sport in China on a shoestring for the last two decades.
Such is China's obsession with Olympic success, a vote from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to add sevens to the schedule for the 2016 Summer Games will transform the "olive ball game", as it is known in Chinese.
Rugby would immediately attract central government funding and, more importantly, become a sport at China's quadrenniel National Games, which in turn would lead to the establishment of teams in most of the country's 31 provinces and regions.
For now, the China Agricultural University is the heart and soul of Chinese rugby, providing the team with a 500,000 yuan (73,210 U.S. dollars) annual grant which, along with a few scraps of sponsorship, have sustained the sport since 1990.
The university launched mainland China's first rugby team after a professor return from studies in Japan in 1989, and it has essentially doubled as the national team ever since.
China head coach Zheng Hongjun estimates there are at most 300 Chinese rugby players at the moment and it is the prospect of being able to choose from more than his pool of keen but limited students, along with a few soldiers, that excites him most.
But before that can happen, the sport's profile needs a boost in the country where few have heard of rugby.
Twenty-one-year-old Wang Jianhua from the eastern Shandong province, who only started playing rugby in 2007, says even those close to him are still finding the sport confusing.
"People don't understand rugby. In China people watch more American football, and know less about rugby. My family and friends are not that clear about rugby," Wang said.
China joined the International Rugby Board in 1996 and played their first test against Singapore the following year. But in recent years they have been focusing almost exclusively on sevens.
The country won a bronze medal when sevens made its Asian Games debut in 2007, inspired by captain Johnny Zhang who was also "excited".
Taking a break from a training session at the university, Zhang said much was hanging on the decision.
"With a positive outcome, his team would be able to travel abroad without having to wait for invitations with offers of accomodation and back up such as medical care and scientific research would also be guaranteed," he said.
"From the perspective of coaches and payers, if rugby can become an Olympic sport, it should have an enormous effect on the popularisation and development of the sport," he said.
The changes may come too late for Zhang, who plans to retire after next year's Asian Games in Guangzhou, but he has already claimed his place in the history of Chinese rugby after inspiring his country to a bowl triumph in the 2006 Hong Kong Sevens.
He is also the leading points and try scorer in the history of the most famous sevens tournament, a piece of trivia that still surprises even the keenest of rugby fans.
The proposal before the IOC at its meeting in Copenhagen next month would also see a women's rugby sevens tournament in 2016, good news for the even fewer female players of the game in China, such as Bai Ying.
Like most of the players, 25-year-old player Bai Ying is still a full-time student in her native north-eastern Shenyang.
"Everyone thinks it's weird for women to play rugby because it requires a tough and muscular body. People feel like 'wow, why have you made yourself so big? How ugly! but healthy is also beautiful. Nowadays people are increasingly open, so they will slowly get used to the sport," she said.
Her vision may happen faster, if rugby manages to get into the Olympics, kickstarting bigger investment and participation in the country of 1.3 billion people. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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