The various events of the Hangzhou Asian Games are fiercely contested. As the highest level of comprehensive sports events in Asia, we have seen the hard work of Asian athletes, and we have seen the younger generation of athletes sprinting from the Asian Games to a higher stage... Of course, there are some veterans who continue to chase their dreams in the Asian Games.
"I also want to see 'Qiu Ma' in more arenas"
"Come on Mama Qiu!" On the afternoon of September 28, the gymnasium of Hangzhou Huanglong Sports Center was full of people who came to see the performance of Chinese gymnasts, but also to see the legend of gymnastics - Oksana Chusovikina.
Appearing on the field of the Hangzhou Asian Games is legendary in itself. Chusovykina was once known for "you are not healed, I dare not grow old." Today, her son has long since recovered, but she still stands on her favorite gymnastics field - she wants to help her native Uzbekistan win another medal in a major event.
She is 48 years old, almost the same age as the parents of the gymnastics flowers who competed on the same stage. On September 25, in the women's gymnastics qualifying competition, she successfully advanced to the vault with a fifth place in the vault; On the day of the final, she tied her hair neatly, her eyes were firm, she churned neatly in the air, landed perfectly, and made almost no mistakes, and finally ranked 4th with 13.383 points.
Although she missed out on the medal, she still won applause. In 1992, she won gold at the Barcelona Olympics; In 2002, Busan won 4 medals at the Asian Games... 8 Olympic Games, countless world championships, more than 40 gymnastics medals. After the game, "Qiu Ma" greeted the audience with warm eyes. In this Asian Games, every time she appeared, competed and landed, the audience applauded her. Whether she wins the medal or not, her persistence and determination to pursue her dreams are enough to make people respect her.
The 60-year-old "uncle" and his son laughed at the shooting arena together
On September 28, in the Asian Games shooting mixed team skeet final, a hat-wearing "uncle" with a glimpse of his iconic beard attracted special attention, and he won the silver medal in the event with his teammates. This "uncle" is none other than Kuwaiti UFO legend, 60-year-old Abdullah Rashi. In the previous day's competition, he also won the men's skeet two-way individual championship.
Skeet shooting is Kuwait's traditional strength, Abdullah Rashidi is a legend of Kuwait's skeet shooting team, he has won several world championships, winning individual gold medals at the Guangzhou Asian Games and Incheon Asian Games. In the men's skeet two-way individual competition of this Asian Games, Abdullah Rashidi, who ranked only 6th in the qualifying round, "hit a hundred shots" in the final, equaled the Asian record and world record with a full score of 60 points, broke the competition record, and won his third Asian Games gold medal.
More than 40 years later, Abdullah Rashidi started shooting at the age of 12 and began competing at the age of 25, not only declaring his "on-line" strength with a gold medal, but also influencing his son, Mansour Rashidi. Mansour Rashidi is also now an accomplished skeet shooter, winning the men's skeet individual event at the Asian Games in Jakarta four years ago, and four years later in Hangzhou, the gold medal was won by his father.
At this Asian Games, Rashidi father and son fought side by side. Father and son competed together in the men's skeet two-way 50 target team competition, finishing 6th for Kuwait.
Abdullah Rashidi tells us with his performance that as long as you believe in yourself, there is no record that cannot be broken.
"The biggest difference is that there is no next time"
Participating in the Asian Games for the fourth time, how is it different from the previous ones? "This should be my last Asian Games, the biggest difference is that there is no next time." When the Chinese team swept South Korea in the table tennis men's team final and won eight consecutive championships, the words of "dragon team" Ma Long made many national table tennis fans a little sad.
Malone has won countless championships and gold medals. In 2006, at the age of 18, Ma Long participated in the Asian Games for the first time, winning the first gold medal of his career. At that time, the fans' impression of him was still the newcomer behind the predecessors Ma Lin and Wang Hao. In 2016, Rio, he won the Olympic men's singles championship for the first time, becoming the first male player in history to win a table tennis "Super Grand Slam"; In 2021, Tokyo, he won the Olympic men's singles men's team championship and became the first "double-lap Grand Slam" in table tennis... Time flies, once young Ma Long, has grown into the captain of the national table tennis men's team, "hexagonal warrior", 35 years old this year, he is an out-and-out "veteran" among the active table tennis athletes.
Veteran is also an indispensable mainstay in the national table tennis men's team. Even if he is plagued by injuries, as long as he can play, Ma Long will also appear in the World Table Tennis Championships, Grand Slam Championships, World Championships and other arenas, in the table tennis of newcomers, he still represents the indestructible force of national table tennis.
Perhaps when the Chinese table tennis team announced that Ma Long would only participate in the team competition of this Asian Games, fans had a hunch that this might become the farewell show of the "Dragons" Asian Games, but there were still many fans shouting "Dragons, see you in Paris!" ”
Xinhua Daily Junction Special Reporter Yao Yiyi/Wen Wan Chengpeng/Photo