On January 25, Beijing time, Zheng Qinwen defeated Ukrainian player Yastremska in the women's singles semi-finals of the 2024 Australian Open and reached the final. More than a month ago, Zheng Qinwen failed to be selected as one of the top ten athletes selected by Xinhua News Agency in 2023. His outstanding performance in the Australian Open this time seemed to be a slap in the face to the state media judges.
It should be said that Zheng Qinwen also achieved a good record in 2023. However, in the top ten selection, male tennis player Zhang Zhizhen was on the list in tennis, but Zheng Qinwen regretted not being selected. Fans of Zheng Qinwen have expressed their confusion about this. It is not that Zhang Zhizhen is not qualified to be selected into the top ten, but that the tone of the entire selection is open to question. Should the international influence of a player be used as the criterion, or whether a certain athlete has made a breakthrough among Chinese people as the most important criterion?
It can be seen from the list of the top ten athletes in 2023 that Xinhua News Agency pays more attention to the Chinese people's own breakthroughs in some projects. Then Zhang Zhizhen may indeed have certain advantages in men's tennis. He has made leaps and bounds in Chinese men's tennis. Zheng Qinwen had the high level created by Li Na before, but even with a good performance in 2023, he still cannot break through the halo of his predecessors. This creates obstacles for future female tennis players. Li Na's best world ranking is the second in the world. Is it true that only the female player who ranks first in the world is qualified to become a top ten athlete? In other words, China will not have any basketball players selected into the top ten in the next half century because Yao Ming's height is too high.
To be fair, both Zheng Qinwen and Zhang Zhizhen should have a place in the top ten, but some projects are too biased and have little influence. Whether they enter the top ten or not is of no significance to the Chinese people. Take a look at the top ten in 2023: Ding Liren, chess; Wang Chuqin, table tennis; Chinese women's basketball team; Wen Xiaoyan, track and field for people with disabilities; Liu Qingyi, break dancing; Zhang Zhizhen, tennis; Zhang Yufei, swimming; Dong Hongjuan, mountaineering; Qin Haiyang, Swimming; Xie Zhenye, track and field.
There are two people in track and field, and one man and one woman in swimming. Why not tennis? In addition, some athletes have won this honor. Are sports fans really concerned? Is the selection of mountaineers to reflect the strength of the country rather than competitive ability; is the purpose of selecting track and field athletes for people with disabilities to demonstrate the care of China's sports environment for people with disabilities?
In addition, from the selection of break dancers, it can be seen that Xinhua News Agency indeed attaches great importance to breakthroughs within the scope of Chinese people, which seems too narrow-minded. As an influential news agency in the world, they should focus on the international perspective, that is, what kind of athletes are more influential internationally. Zheng Qinwen must be more representative of China than athletes in some unpopular sports.
In any case, Zheng Qinwen’s impressive record at the Australian Open has strongly responded to the Xinhua News Agency’s selection results a month ago. Perhaps the official media believes that Xiao Zheng has already been selected into the top ten once in 2022, so he should give the opportunity to others in 2023. Well, I believe that the 21-year-old girl can move on in 2024 and see who can ignore her this time.
In addition, among the top ten in 2022, 6 are from the Winter Olympics. Do you think it is a bit biased?
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