China expects to win women's field hockey gold in Beijing Olympics

Chinese women's field hockey team, nicknamed "Snow Lotuses", set sights on a long- awaited gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games after a satisfactory rehearsal at the 10th Chinese National Games.

Yang Chao, General-Secretary of the Chinese Field Hockey Association, hailed the rapid development of the sport in China.

"There are three more teams joining the women's field hockey tournament at the 10th National Games than the last one, and the competitions are much more fierce than four years ago," he said.

The result of the gold medal race came at the last minute. Jilin took the third consecutive title through much tougher matches than before. Novice Shanghai played the darkest horse with its unfancied young players which toppled top title contender Liaoning, the former bronze-medalist Guangdong and the former runner-up Sichuan to gain a silver medal.

"The standard of hockey played here among provincial teams is just amazing," said Dennis Meredith, the events manager of Events and Competitions Committee of International Hockey Federation.

Meredith expected the high-ranking Chinese women's field hockey team to be "a very strong title contender in the home field of Beijing Olympics".

Hockey made its first steps toward Olympic Games in 1908, which was in men's division. While hockey is to celebrate its centennial history in Olympics in Beijing, Chinese women's national team "is going to fulfill their mission which is glorious for its toughness ", according to Li Gaochao, a Chinese sports official.

Kim Chang Back, the South Korean coach of the Chinese women's field hockey national team, reiterated here during the National Games that they will do the best to step on the top podium in 2008.

"We have great hope and confidence in winning the gold medal for Chinese people," Kim said, who has been keeping a close watch to each match in the women's field hockey tournament at the National Games.

Kim has been coaching the Chinese national team since 1999, steering those hard-working players into the final stage at the Sydney Olympic Games for the first time, winning both the fifth place and all the credit for their fortitude.

Under hot anticipation and great pressure, the fourth-placed finish at the Athens Olympic Games was nothing less than a crack of dream.

"We actually have great potential in 2004," Kim said. "Compared to those high-ranking teams, the Chinese players enjoy advantages in speed, willpower and accuracy."

After the Athens Games, some veterans retired and some new faces joined the national team. The two generation have not yet changed their hands in lead at the national games.

The 38-year-old Yu Shuzhen, a former national team member and the eldest player in Chinese women's hockey, is an inspiration to her novice Jiangsu women's hockey team.

"I have played twenty-years in the sport, I love field hockey too much to think about retirement," she spoke out what a squad of Chinese women's hockey veterans wanted to say, such as goalkeeper Nie Yali, Cheng Hui and Huang Junxia of the national team. Veterans Fu Baorong, Tang Chunling of Jilin and Chenghui of Shanghai also put into the decisive goals for their teams in a hot title race.

"Old soldiers never die, they just fade away," General Douglas Macarthur said in his farewell address. Yet, veterans of Chinese women's hockey refuse to fade away in hope of beating themselves and leading the new blood in the next three years.

Although promising stars fail to outshine their more experienced peers during the National Games, Kim remained optimistic about a better future of Chinese women's hockey, saying that "the old went and the new comes, but the tradition of hard- working remains."

"I believe that God will also stand by us for all our efforts," he said.

Source: Xinhua