An Amazing Sports Meeting

My Favorite Sport

7 . Every time Oksana Chusovitina competes in a gymnastics event, she catches the audience’s attention. The Hangzhou Asian Games proved no exception. When the 48-year-old Uzbek gymnast took part in the event on Monday, thousands of audiences cheered for “Qiu Ma”, which translates to “Mother Chusovitina”.

“I’m touched by Chusovitina’s story. She tried to save her son and just never gave up. She is beautiful both as an athlete and as a mother,” said Zhang Anqi, a Hangzhou local who attended the event.

After completing her competition, Chusovitina blew a kiss to the audience and formed a “heart” shape with her hands. “It is the love and support of the people that keep me going and give me the strength to achieve more,” Chusovitina said. “I am not very satisfied with my performance tonight. Actually, I was a little over-excited. I will increase the difficulty in the final,” she added.

Chusovitina has a storied history at the Asian Games, having won eight medals, including two golds in 2002. Her Olympic journey began in 1992, representing the former Soviet Union. She later stood for Uzbekistan. When Chusovitina’s son got a serious illness in 2002, she chose to take German citizenship (国籍) to compete at global events for a higher income and better medical treatment. She took her Uzbek citizenship in 2013 again.

Her heartfelt feeling, “I dare not grow old until you are well,” has moved many. After her son’s recovery, Chusovitina continued her gymnastics journey simply out of love for the sport. Though she announced her retirement after the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, she decided to return shortly after. “The biggest power is my desire. I want to perform. I love gymnastics, and it brings me great joy. I’m just doing what I love, so why should I stop?” Chusovitina said.

8 . My mother turned ninety. I knew I needed to find a senior _______ center. Not for her — for me. If I were at her age, I would want to stay in shape to _______ life, getting a lot of pleasure. Yes, walking in local parks was my _______, but I wasn’t so active as before.

I called a nearby center, “Do you have aerobics (有氧运动) classes _______ for seniors?” “Sure. Come and check us out! We start at 10 am,” the receptionist (接待员) replied and _______. The next morning, I went there. One part of me was _______ that the class was too easy, not doing me any good. The other part feared it was too hard for me to _______.

When I came into the room, a woman _______ me, “Oh, you’re new. Welcome.” Then the music started. The hour-long workout woke up the muscles I didn’t often _______ in daily walks, suiting me fine. I became a member there. My classmates ranged in age from fifty to ninety. Most gave the exercises their own ____________, doing as much or little as they could. ____________ no one kept score. Soon I learned physical well-being wasn’t the only ____________ there. During breaks, people chatted happily. Whenever some people were ____________ we asked around. Were they busy? Were they in hospital? Moreover, we signed cards for those who were ill.

I ____________ to be in good shape now as I’ve hoped. Still, I’m grateful for things more valuable from the class — close friendships and new social ____________.

Lifting a spear, Li Jinqi pulled it across her shoulders and spun (旋转) it     1     (quick). Following her example     2     (be) ten peers in two rows (排) who wore the same Kungfu — style garments (服装) and produced the same movements.

Li is a 24-year-old Ph.D. Student at Bei hang University in Beijing,     3     she is more widely known on campus as a martial arts master and led the university’s martial arts club. Despite being busy with research and coursework (课程作业), the Ph.D. student said     4     (practise) martial arts has become a daily routine for herself over the past five years. She has studied various styles, boxing and swordplay (击剑)     5     (include), and won several cross — campus martial arts competitions held in the capital city

Gao Xiaoya, majoring in electronic information engineering at Beihang, who also joined the martial arts club,     6     (share) that she draws inner peace and strength from the sport. Gao is     7     the many young people who were first attracted to martial arts as a way to keep fit, but who found that their     8     (enthusiastic) grew as they practiced more.

“The rapid growth of the Internet and social media also facilitates communication about traditional Chinese culture, enabling young people to have     9     (easy) access to rare art forms,” said Song Yu,     10     assistant researcher at the Institute of Sociology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

10 . Leek Town Warriors was a girls’ football team which used to get routinely defeated every time they turned out, until James Henry stepped in two years ago. He tended to transform the team’s fortunes and then took the job when the previous coach quit. With the help of his assistant Andy Austin, they started training hard in April 2020.

Some players had never kicked a football before joining the team, so training them took hours of hard work and patience. After a good few weeks, they got down to training and really started to take it in what the coach wanted. “I insist on doing the basic stuff well and letting the girls decide what they feel they need to work on.” James said.

James’ first season was ruined by the pandemic, which forced him and Andy to get creative with training. They organized team-building activities with the girls to help them bond on and off the field. James then spent the sessions they could hold focusing on the basics of football like passing and shooting, bringing the girls up to a good standard.

James watched the girls develop over the course of last year, and in September they played their first match of the new season. They won the game, and since then went on an unbeaten run of eight games. The team’s star player, 15-year-old Chelsea, has also impressed the audience individually, becoming the top scorer in the league with incredible 30 goals.

James said, “All the effort that the girls, us coaches and parents have put in to get this point has been enormous. If I hadn’t had the support of Andy helping me every week, this would have been an impossible task. So I’m incredibly grateful to have him on side. All we want is to bring more girls into the game and show that it’s not all about having the best players; it’s about hard work and giving everyone the chance to play.”