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.jpg) In 2009, the 25th World University Games in Belgrade saw local native and former UW standout Alex Slovic capture gold in men's singles, while Russia's former junior world No. 4 Ksenia Lykina took gold in the women's equivalent.
In the final, Slovic, a former collegaite standout at the University of Washington, overcame the mental drain of having wasted three match points in the second set tiebreak and a double-break 4-0 lead in the third, to beat No. 1 seed Ivan Sergeyev of Ukraine in a three-hour battle, 7-5, 6-7(4), 6-4.
The World University Games, or "Universiade," is a biennial, Olympic-style sporting and cultural festival for student-athletes. The word "Universiade" is an amalgamation of the words "university" and "Olympiad", which basically means Olympic Games for students.
Similar to the Olympics, the Universiade consists of a Summer and a Winter Games.
Accordingly, ten mandatory branches and a maximum of three optional branches based on the choice of the host city constitute the Summer Universiade.
Tennis, together with Athletics, Basketball, Volleyball, Football, Gymnastics, Fencing, Swimming, Water Polo, Tennis, and Diving make up the ten mandatory branches.
On the other hand, Alpine Skiing, Nordic Skiing, Ice Hockey, Ice Skating, Biathlon, and Figure Skating are the six mandatory branches for the Winter Games, which can include an additional one or two optional branches based on the choice of the host city.
Organized by the International University Sports Federation (FISU), the inaugural Summer Universiade took place in Turin, 1959. That year, the gold medal in men's singles went to François Jauffret, whose 35 Davis Cup ties from 1964-1978 remains to this day an All Time Record for a French Davis Cupper.
Astonishingly, from 1959 to 1970, players from Japan dominated the men's doubles event to the extent that they claimed two golds and 3 silvers during that stretch. However, since 1970, Japan has managed to medal just once more in men's doubles when Michihisa Onoda and Norikazu Sugiyama claimed a bronze in Majorca 1999.
Unless records suggest otherwise, Hong Kong's best results at the World University Games probably came at the 23rd Summer Universiade in Izmir, Turkey, in 2005 when Brian Hung and Lam Po Kuen combined to reach the quarterfinals of the mixed doubles where the duo went out to eventual gold medallists, Chen Ti and Chuang Chia-Jung, of Chinese Taipei.
Notable players from Hong Kong who had competed at the World University Games include John Hui and Jacklyn Fu, who were in Italy for the 19th Universiade in Sicily in 1997.
The first Mainlander to finish with a place on the podium at the WUG was none other than Chinese great Xia Jia-Ping, whose gold medal in singles from Sheffield 1991 remains to this day the benchmark for all male tennis players from China.
In fact, no player of Chinese origin was able to reach a men's singles final until 2003 when Taiwan's Lu Yen-Hsun, who peaked at a career-high ATP No. 55 (6 Apr 2009), defeated Igor Zelenay in the title showdown to claim gold.
Players of Chinese origins to claim a bronze medal in men's singles over the years also included China's Zhang Jiu-Hua (1993) and Chinese Taipei's Lin Bing-Chao (1997), Lu Yen-Hsun (2001), Wang Yeu-Tzuoo (2005), and Chen Ti (2007).
The first Chinese player to claim a gold medal in women's singles was former national number one and WTA No. 70, Yi Jing-Qian, who beat Japan's Kaoru Shibata to win the top prize in Buffalo in 1993. That year, former Hong Kong resident and one-time Fed Cup player, Olivia Gravereaux, also made it to the podium in the women's singles.
In 2001 in Beijing, China's Li Na defeated Taiwan's Janet Lee, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, to win the women's singles gold. She then added two more when partnering Li Ting to win the women's doubles and Zhu Ben-Qiang to win the mixed as well. That year, local natives Bruce Li and Yang Jing-Zhu claimed bronze in the men's doubles.
Shenzhen overcame other bid cities Kaohsiung (Chinese Taipei), Kazan (Russia), Poznań (Poland), and Murcia (Spain) to win the right to host the 2011 Summer Universiade.
Official Website for Shenzhen 2011: www.sz2011.org.
Universiade Medalists (1959-2009)
Related Stories:
Alex Slovic is golden at World University Games (msn.foxsports.com, Jul 2009)
Udomchoke, Chan Yung-Jan favourites for Universiade (10 Aug 2007)
Jack, Polly, Brian heads to Izmir for 23rd World University Games (5 Aug 2005)
Hung Represents Hong Kong at World University Games (mgoblue.com, 19 Aug 2005)
Five-Event Universiade Tennis Concludes With Three Golds to China (xinhuanet.com, 31 Aug 2001)
Summer Universiade Host Nations:
- 1959 Turin, Italy
- 1961 Sofia, Bulgaria
- 1963 Porto Allegre, Brazil
- 1965 Budapest, Hungary
- 1967 Tokyo, Japan
- 1970 Turin, Italy
- 1973 Moscow, Russia
- 1975 Rome, Italy
- 1977 Sofia, Bulgaria
- 1979 Mexico City, Mexico
- 1981 Bucharest, Romania
- 1983 Edmonton, Canada
- 1985 Kobe, Japan
- 1987 Zagreb, Yugoslavia
- 1989 Duisburg, Germany
- 1991 Sheffield, England
- 1993 Buffalo, USA
- 1995 Fukuoka, Japan
- 1997 Sicily, Italy
- 1999 Palma de Mallorca, Spain
- 2001 Beijing, China
- 2003 Daegu, Korea
- 2005 Izmir, Turkey
- 2007 Bangkok, Thailand
- 2009 Belgrade, Serbia
- 2011 Shenzhen, China
Sources
www.fisu.net (FISU)
www.internationalgames.net
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