There is something to watch in the Chinese Men’s Ice Winter Olympics: North Americans vs North Americans https://t.co/MliLdG4iQ6
Ice hockey is still a very rare sport in China. When the Chinese men’s ice hockey team makes its debut at the Winter Olympics, it is expected to surprise many Chinese spectators. The surprise may not be the level of this team, but that it has many Western faces.
Washington —
At next week’s Beijing Winter Olympics, China’s men’s ice hockey team will face the United States in its first Olympic debut. Although all parties are not optimistic about the Chinese team, there are also reports that China has organized a team of “naturalized players” mainly composed of foreigners, and they may have unexpected actions. But many people are concerned that the Chinese national football team has taught a profound lesson. Is Chinese ice hockey going to repeat the dead end that the national football team has gone through?
According to public information, the Chinese men’s ice hockey team has a total of 25 players, of which only 6 are local players. The remaining 19 players were born in foreign countries. 15 of them have joined the Chinese nationality and are “naturalized players”. The most players are from Canada. , there are 11 people, followed by the United States, with 7 people, and one person from Russia.
According to the arrangement of the Winter Olympics, the Chinese men’s ice hockey team is placed in Group A, and the foreign teams in the same group are the United States, Canada and Germany. On the evening of February 10, the Chinese team will face the American team, and some “Chinese players” from the United States will inevitably fight against their home country team.
The introduction of foreign players is not new in China. Mainly focused on China’s disadvantaged sports, such as basketball and football. One of the main considerations for introducing foreign players is to rapidly improve China’s performance in these projects through such a short-term and quick measure. In this regard, the Chinese sports authorities can be said to have used various means to hire foreign players and coaches at any cost, and some even provide them with Chinese nationality through special channels.
However, judging from their record, there is a huge contrast between input and output. The Chinese men’s basketball team has a lackluster record in foreign wars for many years, and the Chinese national football team, which has 11 naturalized players, has not improved. In the Asian qualifiers for the World Cup on the first day of the new year this year, the Chinese team lost 1:3 to the Vietnamese team, which has always been looked down upon by China and has lost 7 games in a row.
In China, where nationalism is currently running high, a considerable number of netizens are angry that the national team is dominated by “naturalized” players. A netizen named “Bian Yu’er” on China’s Hupu Sports website said: “Please come out and criticize the defenders of national honor.” “Do you still feel proud of this kind of national team?”
Some netizens also pointed out that although naturalized players can help the team improve their performance in a short time, in the long run, it may directly cut off the development of young players.
However, some people are very open and think that the Chinese men’s ice hockey level is too poor. By using naturalized players on a large scale, they can achieve satisfactory results in the Winter Olympics and make up for the gap in the Chinese men’s ice hockey Olympics. He Leer Why not?
As Chinese naturalized players, will it be a little embarrassing for them to turn around and play against their own national team after being naturalized in China? Chicago-born Chinese hockey guard Jack Kellyos doesn’t care. He told Reuters that he had played for China for three years and it was natural to represent the Chinese team.
Reuters quoted him as saying, “We eat Chinese food and live in Chinese culture, so the team has a certain sense of closeness to China and began to feel hopeful to win for the Chinese team.”
This time, the Chinese ice hockey team won the admission ticket to the Beijing Winter Olympics by virtue of the advantage of the host country. At the same time, the International Ice Hockey Federation also gives special care to Chinese naturalized players.
According to the rules of the International Ice Hockey Federation, foreign players who want to represent a country in the Olympic Games must live in the country for more than two years and play for the country’s national team. However, the Chinese men’s ice hockey team traveled to the Moscow region of Russia for training and competition during the epidemic, making some foreign players unable to meet this international rule. However, the International Ice Hockey Federation recognized the eligibility of these players.
