In the final round of the Volvo China Open, Li Haotong and Ding Wen set off together, which is the fourth time in just 3 months after the first and second rounds of this competition and the final round of the National Games.
In the final results list, their rankings are also next to each other - Li Haotong is 2nd, and Ding Wenyi is tied for 3rd. And next year, the two proud sons of Chinese golf, who are 9 years apart in age, may further narrow the distance between each other, such as becoming national team teammates at the Asian Games.
Also during the Volvo China Open last week, an article on the official public account of the China Higher Education Association "inadvertently" revealed an important news - the golf project of the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games will allow professional golfers to register for the first time!
At last year's Hangzhou International Tournament, male and female central tour players appeared in the main stadium of the 2022 Asian Games
"Recently, the rules for participating in the Asian Games in golf have changed, from the original only amateur players to participate, to no longer restrict professional players to participate, from the rules to the Olympic Games to be consistent. This rule change made the participation in the Asian Games of Golf an important training exercise for the Paris Olympic Games. The China Higher Education Association tweeted.
It is for this reason that the winter training of the national training team of the Asian Games held in Yangjiang City, Guangdong Province, this month has unprecedentedly selected several male and female professional golfers such as Chen Guxin, Chen Zihao, He Zeming, Ren Yue, and Zhao Zhimeng to participate. In the official tweet, the China Higher Education Association did not forget to emphasize that Chinese players on overseas tours "will continue to be the focus of the Asian Games preparations and selection targets."
This means that Chinese professional players outside the world, including Li Haotong, Wu Ashun, Yuan Yichun, Zhang Xinjun, Dou Zecheng, Bai Zhengkai, Lin Xiyu, Liu Yu, Yin Ruoning, He Muni, Shi Yuting and others, will become candidates for the Asian Games national team! On the one hand, the expansion of the selection of materials will undoubtedly increase the competitiveness of the national team, but on the other hand, it will also inevitably subvert people's existing understanding of Asian Games golf and the life planning of some amateur golfers.
The national Asian Games training team is training in Yangjiang winter (Photo/China Higher Education Association)
From New Delhi in 1982 to Jakarta in 2018, golf has been an official sport at the Asian Games. The biggest difference between it and other events is that it only accepts amateur players to participate. A big reason is that when golf first entered the Asian Games in 1982, it was promoted and operated by the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation, an amateur golfers' organization and one of the organizers of major amateur events in Asia today, such as the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship, the Asia-Pacific Women's Amateur Championship, and the Nomura Cup. At that time, professional golf had not yet returned to the Olympic Games, as the world's first large-scale comprehensive sports event to make golf an official event, the participants of the Asian Games also followed the system of the Asia-Pacific Golf Federation and had the provision of "amateur status".
For more than three decades, the Asian Games have been regarded as the highest level of amateur competition in Asia, and it is also a "once in a lifetime opportunity" for many Asian amateurs. Liu Wenbo and Yuan Yichun will also turn into professional players after the Asian Games and move towards a higher professional stage. Pan Zhengqun, Zhang Lianwei, Shuren Tanihara, Lan Gongli, Lin Xiyu, Yan Jing, Liu Xiaoran, Sasso Youhua and other famous players have all won medals in the Asian Games. Even many golfers will retain their amateur status in order to compete, and then turn professional after playing the Asian Games, such as Jin Cheng, Yuan Yechun, Liu Wenbo, Du Mohan and others in the last Chinese team.
However, at the last Asian Games in Jakarta, there were already initiatives by participating countries to promote golf to emulate the Olympic Games and open up professional players to participate. In particular, South Korean male athletes have always had great desire to participate in the Asian Games, after all, as long as they win the Asian Games gold medal, they can exchange the privilege of "free military service" for adult South Korean men.
South Korea's first brother Ren Sung-jae (left) Tokyo Olympics impact medal failure
As early as a month ago, there were rumors that "the Hangzhou Asian Games allowed professional participation". With the announcement of the national team training of the China Higher Education Association, this statement has become an established fact. During the Volvo China Open, when reporters asked Li Haotong about his views on "accepting professional players at the Asian Games", the latter expressed strong interest.
"If I have the opportunity to represent the country in the Asian Games, I will definitely fight!" Li Haotong, 26, said, "I will try to coordinate my schedule, if I have the opportunity. ”
In 2016, Li Haotong participated in the Olympic Golf Tournament that returned after a hundred years and twice represented the Chinese team in the Golf World Cup. But for the Asian Games, even in his spare time, he never got a chance to be shortlisted.
Li Haotong won the Volvo China Open as the runner-up
In 2010, at the age of 14, Li Haotong participated in the Asian Games selection training tournament at Danling Cuiyuan Stadium in Nanshan, Shandong. Unfortunately, in the competition of as many as 44 male golfers, he failed to break through the barrier and regretted that he lost the Guangzhou Asian Games. As he turned professional the following year, he naturally lost his chances to participate in the 2014 Incheon Asian Games and the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games...
"The closest I came to the Asian Games in my life was the Nanshan Qualifying Tournament. At that time, if I could play an Asian Games, it felt like winning the Masters. Li Haotong recalled, "For a long time, the Asian Games were in my heart, even more important than the Olympic Games. ”
Therefore, knowing that professional players can participate in the Asian Games, Li Haotong felt very "surprised": "In my opinion, I have one more opportunity to represent the motherland. ”
In 2010, the national team launched the Asian Games selection in Nanshan
Of course, the Asian Games is, after all, a tournament with no tour prize money. According to the schedule, the golf tournament of the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games will be held on September 15-18 at the Hangzhou West Lake International Golf Course. For a European Tour player like Li Haotong, if he wants to participate in next year's Asian Games, he will not only have to fly back to Asia from Europe, but also lose at least two games, including the European Tour's flagship European PGA Championship. And this, has not taken into account the epidemic isolation policy, and whether the national team still has to carry out pre-match selection matches and other factors...
But at least Li Haotong himself expressed his hopes in September next year: "I will try to coordinate my schedule, if I have the opportunity." ”
However, for some amateur rising stars, the Asian Games will accept professional players, which is obviously not a 100% good news. After all, in the original selection system, young players who have performed well in the past two years have always been the main candidates for the national team of the Hangzhou Asian Games, and some of them have even been postponing the time of their career transfer to the Asian Games.
Li Haotong and Ding Wenyi
The asian games golf is organized in men's 4 and women's 3, competing for a total of 4 medals in men's and women's teams/individuals. In yesterday's latest edition of the World Amateur Rankings, Jin Bo (No. 18), Ding Wenyi (19), Lin Yuxin (27) and Chang Xihuan (155) ranked in the top 4 of the Chinese mainland men' respectively; in the women's side, Yin Xiaowen (8), Ye Lei (23) and Zeng Liqi (43) ranked in the top three of the Chinese mainland. Together with the 11 amateur young players of the current national winter training team, these people were originally "seed" candidates for the Hangzhou squad, but now they will face fierce competition with professional "big brothers and big sisters" to compete at home to represent China in the Asian Games.
"Before the mechanism, I think the odds of me being able to play are relatively large. After the reform, there are also opportunities, but the difficulty will increase a lot. Ding Wenyi said frankly, "But I am not too surprised, there should be a selection in May and June next year, in order to participate, I will do my best." ”
Ji Yuai, a dalian girl who also appeared at the Volvo China Open last week as a "special guest" in the Asian Games training team, believes that allowing professional players to participate in the Asian Games is not equivalent to closing the door to amateur golfers, and she believes that the national team selection in the next six months will be a process of integration of professional and amateur players, "everyone has a chance".
Ji Yu'ai, who served as a "special guest departure" last week
After all, this time the winter training team is still dominated by amateur players. Therefore, I believe that as amateur golfers, we still have a greater and better chance of reaching the Asian Games. The 17-year-old said.
Since his first participation in the Asian Games in 1986, Chinese athletes have won 5 silver medals and 4 bronze medals. Although the breakthrough of zero gold medals has not yet been achieved, the 4 medals in the last Asian Games have set a record for the best asian games in the history of Chinese golf. Looking forward to Hangzhou next September, the Chinese team can send the "strongest lineup" to bring greater surprises to the home fans.
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