Xiangzhou District, Zhuhai

The 31st Olympic Games ended in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on Aug 21, after great performances by seven Zhuhai-cultivated athletes, the largest number taking park in the largest number of events ever.

Yi Siling

Yi Siling

Markswoman Yi Siling, trained at the Zhuhai Sports School, was the first Chinese medalist at the Rio Olympics 2016 with a bronze in the women's 10 m air rifle final.

Yi first came to Zhuhai for training in 2004 and was selected to the renowned Huangcun Sports Training Base in Guanghzou three years later. She became a member of the national team in 2008.

Yi nabbed China’s first gold medal at the London Olympic Games in 2012. She has won at the Olympics, the ISSF World Championships, the World Cup, the Asian Games, the National Games of the PRC, and the Asian Championships -- all by age 23.

Zhu Yuling

Zhu Yuling

Zhu Yuling, also a graduate of the Zhuhai Sports School, stood out as a world table tennis star by winning numbers of gold medals at international competitions. Zhu debuted at the Rio Games as an alternate and did not take part in matches, but the Tokyo 2020 will be her show time.

Wu Shuijiao

Wu Shuijiao

A Doumen native, Wu Shuijiao is a famous hurdler trained at Zhuhai Sports School. She placed first at women’s 100 m hurdles event of the 2014 Asian Games and set a personal record of 12.72 s. In Rio 2016, Wu ranked 25th in the preliminary round, only one place away from the semi-final.

Wang Yu

 Wang Yu

Wang Yu was born in Zhuhai and trained for the high jump at the Zhuhai Sports School. He was the champion at the 2014 IAAF World Challenge. The Rio Olympics gave him no chance to reach the final but witnessed his good performance of 2.22 m.

Li Qiang

 Li Qiang

Li Qiang, a renowned flat-water canoeist, was once trained at the Doumen Teens Amateur Sports School. He claimed the men's 200 m canoe singles title at the 2015 Canoe Sprint World Cup in Denmark, which was China's first gold medal in international men’s single canoeing. Li came 7th with a time of 40.143 s at just concluded Rio Olympics, the best time for China.

Zou Yuchen

Zou Yuchen

Zou Yuchen is an excellent basketball player from Zhuhai. He won the FIBA Asia Under-18 Championship as a delegate to the national basketball team and was awarded as the match’s best player and vanguard in 2014. He was seen as a potential inside player for the Chinese team at Rio Olympics.

Tan Ruyin

 Tan Ruyin

Tan Ruyin is a national football player recruited from Guangdong Women’s Football Team which has been relocated in Zhuhai. She played for the national team at the 2015 Women’s World Cup. Her powerful shoot at the 88 min mark at the second half of the second round in group E helped the national team defeat South Africa 2:0, the first football victory for China at the Rio Olympics.

The Zhuhai Sports School and Doumen Teens Amateur Sports School have become cradles of international competitive players.

The Zhuhai Sports School, a medium-sized professional training school for juveniles, is a potential sports talent cultivation base for provincial and national teams. It focuses on turning out formidable athletes of track and field, swimming, badminton and shooting.

Doumen Teens Amateur Sports School is another sports training center with focus on water polo and canoeing. Zeng Qiliang, Li Qiang and Wu Shuijiao are the representative world-class players nurtured there.

So far, the city has registered 800 players and 48 experienced coaches, and have provided a great number of athletes, who have earned 77 gold, 18 silver and nine bronze medals at world-level competitions including the Olympics, World Championship and World Cup final, according to the Zhuhai Culture, Sports & Tourism Bureau. At the 14th Games of Guangdong Province in 2015, the athletes garnered seven gold, seven silver and 13 bronze medals.

Zhuhai has formed a complete scientific training system with a number of strong sports programs over the years. More potential sportsmen and sportswomen will be discovered and trained for the future, according to the bureau.