Shanghai Is Full Speed Ahead

After decades of experience in the field, Shanghai is strengthening its reputation as a global leader in     1     top-level, professional sports events.

Last month’s Shanghai Sailing Open, held from March 26—31 on Dishui Lake, was a typical example of the city’s world-famous excellence, attracting over 300 competitors, including a six—time world champion of Poland, a gold medalist at the Hangzhou Asian Games, and China’s former Olympic champion Xu Lijia;     2     in sailboats and yachts, sailors sang praise on the competition environment and overall atmosphere of the event.

Shanghai’s     3     to developing its sports scene has been key to this success. In 2015, the Shanghai government     4     a plan to speed up the development of its sports industry, including a proposal to develop the city into a world-renowned sports hub within 10 years.

According to the “2023 Shanghai sports event influence     5     report”, Shanghai held 118 major sports events last year, with 36 of those international-level events, including the ATP 1000 Shanghai Masters, the Shanghai Marathon, and the Shanghai Half Marathon, which were rated as the city’s most     6     sports events last year.

This year, besides the recent Shanghai Sailing Open and various district-organized half marathon events, the city will continue to     7     sports competitions such as the Shanghai Half Marathon, the Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix, the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, and the Olympic Qualifier Series.

The success of sports development in Shanghai is closely     8     to a policy of top-level construction. In addition to top—level international competitions, top—tier home teams, and professional leagues, brand events are staged year-round to     9     the city’s characteristics. Linking sports with culture, commerce, tourism, and exhibitions is another feature of the city’s sports environment, helping to     10     maximize the economic benefits. Spectators can expect to be treated to the very best in urban sports and that organizers will strive to provide a warm atmosphere of sports, art, music, and culture.

5 . There are few shirts in football as celebrated as the Manchester United No. 7, a grand tradition that is generally considered to go all the way back to George Best. The reality, though, is a little more complex.

At Manchester United, the No. 7 clearly means something to supporters and the club itself. From Best to Ronaldo, this is the story of United’s No. 7 shirt.

George Best played in the days before permanent squad numbers, when it wasn’t uncommon for footballers to wear multiple numbers in the same season. Best certainly did wear the No. 7 on occasion, most famously during the 1968 European Cup final victory over Benfica, but he didn’t actually wear it particularly often — only in 30 per cent of his Manchester United games. The idea that Best started United’s grand history of the No. 7 shirt isn’t entirely unfair, but Best himself evidently didn’t actually care.

Another United Legend, Eric Cantona did care — although he played a variety of numbers during his days in France, he insisted on wearing the No. 7 shirt at United. So it was Eric Cantona, rather than Best, who really made the No. 7 iconic at Manchester United. It was rare to see that number being worn by a forward, instead of a midfielder, but that somehow fitted into the aura of Cantona: a player who interpreted his role in an unusual way.

When Cantona left, Alex Ferguson decided to honour David Beckham with the No. 7 at his request. As a right-sided midfielder, Beckham fitted the No. 7 perfectly. He became so associated with the number that he incorporated it into his own fashion brand known as DB07. He enjoyed six years with the No. 7 shirt until his move to Real Madrid.

Upon Beckham’s departure in 2003, United signed the perfect replacement as No. 7 — Cristiano Ronald. Ronaldo played on the right of midfield, so the shirt number made sense, although he had initially requested No. 28. However, Ferguson insisted on him taking No. 7. It proved a fine decision. Not only did Ronaldo shine on the pitch, but he also replicated Beckham by incorporating the number into a fashion range: CR7.

After Ronald’s transfer to Real Madrid and Ferguson’s retirement, it became clear that United, a club increasingly’ obsessed with branding, wanted to further the legacy and history of the No.7. However, then there was a period when no one seemed to want it. To fill the huge gap left by Ronald’s departure, to be frank, is always something extremely challenging. And whoever comes next must be a confident player who is happy to invite that added scrutiny.

6 . Scientists from Georgia Tech have developed a new robot named ESTHER (Experimental Sport Tennis Wheelchair Robot), which can move around the court and even return human serves.

The team believes the robot could serve as a training partner (搭档) for professional players in the future, lowering the pressure of training with another human.

The robot is the brainchild of Georgia Tech’s Matthew Gombolay, professor of robotics in the School of Interactive Computing. He wanted to develop a better training challenge than a ball feeder that stays in one place, one that would act like an always on-call partner or even team up with someone in doubles matches. The result is ESTHER, an adapted wheelchair tennis chair that can race to balls at ten metres per second and probably outplay a human.

Mr Gombolay explains: “The wheelchair has the ability to rapidly move around the court and get into position (恰当位置) to hit a ground stroke (击落地球). ESTHER can move up to two metres after a ball is struck to hit a successful return, which is comparable to the longest distance moved by human players for 80 per cent of shots (击球).”

The robot was named in homage to well-known wheelchair tennis player Esther Vergeer, who held the world No. 1 position in women’s wheelchair tennis for almost 13 years straight.

The team placed a network of cameras around a tennis court and used computer vision algorithms (视觉算法) to help ESTHER recognise an incoming tennis ball. Using cameras from different positions, they could know where the ball is in the air and feed this information to ESTHER. The team reached a breakthrough when they successfully and continually programmed ESTHER to track the tennis ball coming toward it and to hit a return.

ESTHER will now be developed to act as a highly-skilled tennis player.

9 . No FIFA World Cup would be complete without “psychic(通灵的)” animals predicting the winners, and Qatar 2022 was the same. A range of animals—big and small—have tried to predict the scoreline.

It all started with Paul, the ”psychic“ octopus(章鱼). He put TV experts to shame with an unbelievable group of correct World Cup winner predictions at the Aquarium Sea Life Center in Oberhausen, Germany. He correctly predicted eight World Cup matches at South Africa’s tournament in 2010, including Spain beating the Netherlands in the World Cup final.

Paul’s successor, Rubio the octopus, did not end well. It became a star in Japan for its 100%success in predicting group-stage matches, including Japan’s win against Colombia in the 2018 World Cup held in Russia. Rubio did not get the chance to make its prediction for the Round-of-16 after it was cut into pieces and turned into seafood.

Taiyo the otter had good news for Japanese fans at the 2022 World cup in Qatar, correctly predicting Japan’s group-stage win over Germany. From his home at the Maxell Aqua Park Shinagawa in Japan, Taiyo was given three buckets(桶)to choose from—Japan(blue), draw (yellow)and Germany(red)—and did not hesitate about picking up his tiny football and placing his bet on Japan. He was widely praised online for his action.   

And let’s not forget another star—Marcus, the “mystic pig”. In the 2018 World Cup, Marcus predicted a World Cup victory for England after selecting apples with the England flag on British morning television. However, Marcus’ fortune-telling record was shattered when England was knocked out in the semi-final.

Nelly the elephant from Serengeti Park in Hodenhagen, Germany, also meant business when she had a group of 30 out of 33 matches correct predictions in the 2006 World Cup, the 2010 World Cup and the 2012 Euro.

Camilla the ”mystic“ camel from Melton Mowbray in England did have good news for England, however. She correctly predicted the Three Lions’ group-stage win over Iran at the Qatar World Cup. Her owners said that their camel was ”never wrong“.