综合一区欧美国产,99国产麻豆免费精品,九九精品黄色录像,亚洲激情青青草,久久亚洲熟妇熟,中文字幕av在线播放,国产一区二区卡,九九久久国产精品,久久精品视频免费

Global EditionASIA 中文雙語Fran?ais
Sports
Home / Sports / China

All about accepting the challenge

China Daily | Updated: 2017-06-23 09:38
Share
Share - WeChat

A South African volleyball player is hoisted by volunteers after her team's 3-0 loss to China on Tuesday.Liang Xu / Xinhua

GUANGZHOU, Guangdong province - Her team failed to win a single set during the tournament, but for South African volleyball player Mokgadi Maphaba the inaugural BRICS Games was a resounding personal and collective triumph.

"It was a great challenge ... the first time that we have been abroad to play," said Maphaba.

"We feel so delighted to play against those great teams like China, Brazil and Russia," added the 19-year-old student, whose inexperienced squad also lost to India in the week-long Under-20 round-robin competition.

"We have never played at this level before. The other four teams all have professional players, they are used to performing on the international stage, but we are different. We are not professional, we don't make our livings playing volleyball. We play only for passion and love.

"Playing in front of so many spectators was incredible, and although we are not as good as the other teams, we still felt the support from the Chinese fans. It made us nervous but also excited."

Their nerves were understandable, given that the entire squad is made up of students, ranging from 17 to 19 years old, who only had four days of training before coming to China.

"Volleyball is not as popular as soccer or rugby in South Africa. We didn't have too many youth players to select from to set up the squad," said South Africa's head coach, Hugan Coopsamy.

"But the BRICS Games is a good opportunity for our players to compete with the top ones. We had never imagined this before."

Maphaba took up volleyball just four years ago, and in many ways it has been a life-changing choice.

"I feel grateful that I play volleyball, it gave me a lot opportunities to travel around the country, broadening my horizons," said Maphaba, whose parents divorced several years ago.

The eldest daughter among three siblings, she now lives with her mother and grandmother.

"My family all supported me to play volleyball, sometimes they come to watch my games. It makes them proud to see me on the court," she added.

"I hope the BRICS Games will continue in the future. Learning and mixing with top players and experiencing a different culture was a memorable experience for me.

"I'd also love to see our country host the Games one day. That would be a great honor for us.

"Then, I believe, our team will be stronger."

Xinhua

 

Most Popular

Highlights

What's Hot
Top
BACK TO THE TOP
English
Copyright 1994 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349
FOLLOW US
灌云县| 长葛市| 乐业县| 神农架林区| 镇巴县| 达拉特旗| 朝阳市| 青铜峡市| 泾阳县| 马鞍山市| 肇源县| 当雄县| 宿迁市| 余庆县| 饶河县| 丰都县| 区。| 司法| 西青区| 长岭县| 南城县| 原阳县| 兴仁县| 广河县| 米林县| 工布江达县| 阿拉善右旗| 南江县| 贺州市| 广德县| 高淳县| 哈尔滨市| 延庆县| 盐源县| 枣阳市| 黔南| 大安市| 禹州市| 大埔县| 亚东县| 灵武市|