Vic Liu

Daniel Grassl is reported joining Tutberidze's group for training and sorta shocked figure skating fans.

Almost half population(700 million) got infected in December, 2022 this single month. As many of you already know, Omicron variant is highly contagious but with mild symptoms. Still the sudden surge created stress to hospitals and unavoidably some elderly with underlying disease passed away. However the peak has past now and people are ready to get life back to normal. I am already on my new year's vacation after Covid curbs lifted. The hype doesn't make too much sense right now, at least for Chinese.

Happy new year from 2023 2022 is a tough year for me and most Chinese friends facing lockdown/semi-lockdown/uncertainty of a potential lockdown. Finally it’s all over. Hope that 2023 is year of happiness and progress for all.

Best 10 athletes 2022 by Xinhua news agency ( fairly reflected ordinary Chinese sports fans‘ view ) Gu Ailing, Freestyle Skiing Lionel Messi, Football Irene Schouten, Speed Skating Eliud Kipchoge, Athletics Armand Duplantis, Athletics Karim Benzema, Football Rafael Nadal, Tennis Katie Ledecky, Swimming Iga Swiatek, Tennis Max Verstappen, Auto Racing

Best 10 Athletes 2022 by Xinhua news agency 1. Gu Ailing(W, 19, Freestyle Skiing) - 2 golds and 3 medals on Beijing WOG, phenomenal skiing icon 2. Gao Tingyu(M, 25, Speed Skating) - First Chinese male speed skating WOG champion and 500m WOG record holder 3. Su Yiming(M, 18, Snowboarding) - First Chinese snowboarding WOG champion 4. Xu Mengtao(W, 32, Freestyle Skiing) - 4-time WOG veteran and finally winning ariel gold at home 5. Wang Jianan(M, 26, Athletics) - First Asian long jumping worlds champion 6. Sui Wenjing(W, 27, Figure Skating)/Han Cong(M, 30, Figure Skating) - Second Chinese WOG figure skating champion after 12 years waiting 7. Yang Hongqiong(W, 33, Para Cross-Country Skiing) - 3 Paralympics golds and flag bearer of Paralympics closing ceremony 8. Zheng Qinwen(W, 20, Tennis) - WTA Newcomer of the year 9. Zhang Weili(W, 32, MMA) - UFC Women's Strawweight Champion 10. Chen Yuxi(W, 17, Diving)/Chen Hongchan(W, 15, Diving) - Diving worlds champion and popular diving athletes in China

Some follow-ups of the mass covid curbs protests. As some of you may already noticed, Chinese government decided lifting ALL Covid curbs nationwide at the same time. The result is everyone I know including me got/getting/will get infected on December. I am already recovered with mild symptoms. My parents are still under recovery and most of friends are infected and recovered. Beijing is finally back on track being alive with certainty and confidence.

Athletics is finally released.

What a fantastics game and big congrats to and Messi.

Can't believe it

Some minor updates in red when 2022 season over Archery: Full team. 6 athletes. Artistic Swimming: Favorite gold contender if Russia absent. 8 athletes Athletics: A few more than Tokyo if more tournaments participated with Covid curbs lifted. 54-60 athletes Badminton: Full team. 16 athletes Basketball: Women's team and Women's 3x3. 16 athletes Beach Volleyball: One or two pairs of women. 2-4 athletes Boxing: A few more than Tokyo as we are the host of Asian Games as qualifier and chaos of Tokyo's qualifier. 8-10 athletes Breaking: One boy and One girl are promising based on recent performance and another girl is possible. 2-3 athletes Canoeing - Slalom: Two or three from mk1/wk1/wc1. 2-3 athletes Canoeing - Sprint: Full team for Canoe and half team for Kayak. 13-15 athletes Cycling - BMX: At least one and possible two quotas for women's freestyle given winning World Cup stage gold and silver 0 1-2 athletes Cycling - Mountain Bike: Continental quotas. 1-2 athletes Cycling - Road: Barely get the quota or none. 0-2 athletes Cycling - Track: Progress expected Full team for women and at least one team quota for men. 11-14 athletes Diving: Full quotas but some athletes will attend two events. 10-12 athletes Equestrian: No more team quotas. 1-2 athletes Fencing: Two or three team quotas and rest are individuals. 10-12 athletes Field Hockey: 50% possibility of women's team. 0 or 16 athletes Football: 50% possibility of women's team. 0 or 18 athletes Golf: Full quotas for non world ranking top15. 4 athletes Gymnastics - Artistic: Full team. 10 athletes Gymnastics - Rhythmic: Group should be fine, one individual is quite likely. 5-6 athletes Gymnastics - Trampoline: Full team. 4 athletes Handball: No possibilities. 0 Judo: Very difficult for men and women should be fine. 6-8 athletes Marathon Swimming: continental quotas should be fine and rest is by luck. 2-3 athletes Modern Pentathlon: Full team. 4 athletes Rowing: Most unpredictable sports and my guess is a few less than Tokyo. 21-29 athletes Rugby Sevens: 50% possibility of women's team. 0 or 12 athletes Sailing: We may lose quotas of one or two events, and a few more may lose if Asian Games is not continental qualifier. 10-14 athletes 8-12 athletes Shooting: Possibly drop several quotas of men's shotgun and rest should be fine. 21-24 athletes Skateboarding: Same as Tokyo. 1-2 athletes Sport Climbing: Almost full quotas for speed and possible one or two quotas for boulder and lead. 4-6 athletes Surfing: Possible one quota for women 0 0-1 athlete Swimming: A few more than Tokyo with covid curbs lifted. 38-46 athletes Table Tennis: Full team. 6 athletes Taekwondo: 4-6 athletes Tennis: Full team for women and possible one or two men. 6-7 athletes Triathlon: Maybe one continental quota. 0-1 athlete Volleyball: Women's team should be fine. 12 athletes Water Polo: Women's team should be fine. 12 athletes Weightlifting: Full quotas. 6 athletes Wrestling: Similar to Tokyo. 10-12 athletes Pessimistic: 346 345 Optimistic: 453 454 Realistic: Approx 400 (London 396, Rio 405, Tokyo 406)

It's a full A team. But apparently not everyone is on their best condition. I don't know the reasons either. Covid is a possible reason but I wouldn't blame on it as it's their choice to go abroad late and with no enough time to adjust themselves.

I oppose it unless it will not decrease Asian countries continental quota chances. We can't have Australia and Russia at the same time without more reallocated continental quotas especially group ball sports.

Somehow it seems not fair enough but still acceptable because there are two worlds qualifications with huge amount of quotas more than any continent's. If you you are good enough, you should grasp the either chance.

I think North Korea can't afford copyrights of so many matches but according to our media North Korea air Premier League every now and then.

Only because it’s a humiliation for South Korea.

1. Beijing 2008 opening ceremony without any doubt. A historical moment could be written in Chinese textbook. A strong sound telling the world that China has risen. 2. Liu Xiang Wins Historic 110m Hurdles Gold - Athens 2004 Olympics. Liu Xiang became a super star in China after Athens and still China's athletics proud. 3. Women's Volleyball gold against Russia from 0-2 to 3-2 in Athens. 4. Women's Volleyball quarterfinal winning against Brazil 3-2 as the 4th on group stage in Rio 2016. 5. China's fist Olympic Gold-Los Angeles 1984. Men's 10m air pistol XU Haifeng. A figure and a moment in our history book.

Table Tennis-Women's team Table Tennis-Men's team Diving-Women's 10m platform Diving-Women's 10m platform synchro Weightlifting-Women's +81KG

After so many up-and-downs, upsets and surprises. My guess is still correct at last. 3 AFC teams advanced.

I am very glad to see both protesters and police showed greatest restraint. None of the protests turned into riots and no pepper sprays these kind of things are used. And the most important thing is that it kinda works. The Covid curbs in Guangzhou and Shijiazhuang, two provincial capitals, are eased today. Especially Guangzhou is the most-hit city by Covid in this round. Hopefully all Covid curbs would be gradually lifted in the coming months. I am also exhausted and fed up with it after 3 years.

Iranians failed to seize the chances for a couple of times. Can't blame anyone and this match is less exciting than I expected.

I think Japan will advance for sure and Iran is also likely to advance against USA if they are no more disrupted by non-football related factors. Korea is weaker than I expect on first game. Still I hope at least 2 but hopefully 3 AFC teams will advance.

Congrats to and @MHSN. Amazing performance on last 5 minutes.

And congrats to Malaysian Chinese friends. They all seem very happy on Weibo.