South China Morning Post - China Sport

Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory is a time-honoured tradition across the sporting world, just think Newcastle United in the English Premier League 1995-96 season, or the Atlanta Falcons in the 2017 Super Bowl and you get the idea. But has any team, anywhere, in any sport ever done it more emphatically than Chengdu Rongcheng did this past weekend? The Chinese Super Leagu...

Former Chinese women’s team captain Shang Chunsong credited her gymnastics career for laying the groundwork after she clinched gold at the parkour World Cup, while also voicing hope that the sport will one day be included in the Olympics. The 30-year-old won the women’s freestyle title at the FIG Parkour World Cup leg in Beijing, sealing the 2026 overall series crown in an event...

A year after stepping away from competition, Olympic shot put champion Gong Lijiao has lost more than 30kg (66lbs) after refusing to “lie flat” during her retirement. The 36-year-old submitted her official retirement paperwork after the National Games in November last year. She said then she aimed to lose 25kg before pursuing marriage. “I also want to become beautiful. You will ...

More than a month after sparking public outrage by soiling herself during Hyrox Beijing, Australian athlete Joanna Wietrzyk has announced she is “super excited” about returning to competition. In a new video posted on her social media, the 24-year-old said the past several weeks gave her an opportunity to re-examine the incident and learn from it. “So I’ve had some time to refle...

Even Asia’s first UFC world champion, Zhang Weili, cannot escape the pressure of Chinese parents pushing her to get married. A year ago, Zhang, now 37, said she was glad her family was not rushing her to marry, preferring to focus on her fighting career and leave relationships to fate. But in an interview posted on social media this week, Zhang revealed her parents grew deeply c...