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China has big hope for softball gold medal in 2008 Olympics: authority
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2005-10-13 17:04
Xinhuanet
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NANJING, Oct, 13 (Xinhuanet) -- Don Porter, chairman of the International Softball Federation (ISF), said here Thursday that China has great hope in winning gold medal of softball at 2008 Olympics.
"Chinese softball level is very high, and they will play in their home field. They just need to between now and 2008 to continue working hard, developing coaching level and playing more strong competitions. They have good chance to medal in 2008," the chairman said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua when he attended the opening ceremony of the softball matches of the 10th Chinese National Games.
Porter stressed that Chinese softball coaching needs to be brought up by several levels. "Coaching is very important, you canhave very good athletes but they don’t have good coach. There is difference, especially in team sports," said the world top official of softball. The last time he saw Chinese team play was in the World Cup held in the United States in July.
Porter highlighted China’s role in promoting the sport, praising China for "having done very well in the last 10 years in developing softball not only in the international level but also in the national level."
He said that the development of softball in Chinese schools has helped promote the sport. He hoped that hosting events like the match he saw at the Nanjing Industrial University, with big crowds, is very positive.
"I’m sure that the ISF Women’s World Championship to be held in Beijing next year will have large attendance," he said.
ISF is working with China Softball Association to help developthe sport, having provided equipment for Chinese middle schools and universities and coaching instructors.
"I think China will be very competitive in the next year’s Women’s World Championship, which is going to be held in the Olympic venue. China is very active in the university game. I knowthat they are interested in hosting the World University Championship in 2007," he said.
He pointed out that China not only has good athletes but also has individuals who can become good coaches. "They need to be trained and have more experience.They need to play more strong competitions," he said.
Porter said that he is going to inspect the softball Olympic venue in Beijing sometime next month and Hein Verbruggen, Chairmanof IOC’s Coordination Commission for the 2008 Games, has told him that the venue is progressing very well in construction and preparation. "It will be excellent venue not only for the Olympicsbut also the World Championship," Porter cited Verbruggen as saying.
Porter is optimistic that the International Olympic Committee will reconsider its decision to take away softball from Olympics when it meets in February next year.
"We ask for reconsideration of the vote. Hope we will get a favorable vote in February to continue the program in 2012 in London. There is still hope. We will continue to do a lot of work to convince IOC members," he said.
He thought the the result of voting in Singapore for removing softball from Olympics doesn’t mean that there is strong enough reason the sport should be removed from Olympics. "The result is atie of 52-52, one IOC member abstained," he said.
Porter has been busy meeting IOC members, trying to convince them to get back softball to the Olympic Games.
"I met IOC President Dr. Jacques Rogg twice last month and sixIOC members here in Nanjing," he said. Several softball Olympics athletes have also talked with the IOC members.
"We are doing a lot to show that we are not baseball because we have men playing softball and we have men’s discipline besides women’s in softball," he added.
Porter expressed appreciation for the strong support of Chinese IOC members He Zhenliang and Yu Zaiqing for softball.
"China is developing as a very strong competitive country in our sport and we hope this will continue.This is important for us as China is one of the leaders in the Olympic movement," he said.
The chairman denied that the removal of softball from Olympicsis a result of lack of popularity in Europe, saying that softball is played in 32 European countries, about one-fourth of the participating countries and regions all over the world. In addition, television rate of softball is up in the mid-range amongthe 28 sports of the summer Olympics, he said.
However, he admitted the TV coverage of softball is not as developed as in other parts of the world and said the ISF has beenworking on putting up more softball events on European TV channelsas well as asking the national federations of European countries to enhance the promotion of softball.
He criticized European media as "being biased" in reporting softball, saying that softball is one of the sports that European media dislikes because softball evolved from the United States instead of Europe.
He thought that the removal is more a result of misconception of the softball than the popularity of the sport.
He wanted to clear the misconception that softball is women’s baseball. "They are different in balls, dimensions and layout of field and rules of playing," he said.
"A lot of IOC members have perception that we are too close tobaseball. They see softball as women’s baseball. But it isn’t. they are separate sports," he said.
He said that many IOC members want to remove baseball because baseball has the problem like doping and the best players don’t compete in the Olympics."We have never had positive doping test insoftball," he said.
"There is reason for removing baseball but no reason for removing softball.It’s women’s sport first of all. Why do you takeit out of Olympics when the IOC is dedicated to have more female’sparticipation in Olympics? That doesn’t make sense," he said.
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