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Thursday July 24, 1:26 PMHu urges athletes to stay cool: official media
With 16 days to go until the opening ceremony, Hu met basketball star Yao Ming, China's gymnasts and a host of other athletes at training grounds in south Beijing on Wednesday, the state-run People's Daily reported. "I hope you train hard, train scientifically, improve your competitive skills, keep a cool state of mind, and achieve outstanding results at the Games," Hu told the gymnasts. The visit coincided with a report by the official Xinhua news agency on Wednesday that China's gymnasts were struggling to cope with the pressure of the massive home-crowd expectations. "You can imagine the pressure when 1.3 billion people are watching you. We're nervous because we know we have to succeed and failure is unacceptable," gymnastics head coach Huang Yubin said. Hu spoke to NBA star Yao, who has only just returned to the national team after a five-month injury lay-off with a broken foot, the People's Daily said. "The whole nation is very concerned about your foot. How is it going now?" Hu asked Yao. The 2.26 metre (7 foot 6 inch) centre simply replied: "okay," according to the newspaper. Hu said he had particularly high hopes for the men's basketball team, which is aiming for a top six finish, but faces a tough task to make it even to the quarter finals after being placed in the tougher of the two round robin groups. "Chinese people pay lots of attention to basketball and everyone expects your superb performance in matches," Hu told them, according to the People's Daily. Accompanied by Vice President Xi Jinping, Hu met the athletes at the Training Bureau of the General Administration of Sport, where teams in 11 events from 14 countries are training for the Games, according to Xinhua. Hu also met weightlifters and volleyball players from the China women's team, the newspaper reported. "We are determined to repay the motherland, to repay the people with the best results," said Feng Kun, captain of the women's volleyball team, the report said. |
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