Chinese tennis star Li Na in a commercial for Nike Training Club (a mobile app if not mistaken) in Taiwan, in which she talks about the benefits of a physically fit body.
Racquet Sports
Hsieh Su-Wei wins first grand slam for Taiwan
Tennis player Hsieh Su-Wei (left) becomes the first Taiwanese to win a grand slam (tennis) title after winning the Wimbledon women’s doubles on Saturday with Chinese partner Peng Shuai.
The duo – which were born just four days apart in 1986 – has been playing tennis together since early teens. They split after turning pro before reunited again in 2008. Quite a fairy tale.
The fact that the success is formed between two players from China and Taiwan (which are in an ambiguous relationship) has prompted some side stories and awkward moments. Let’s hope the duo won’t split again because of politics.
Maria Sharapova – Head Tennis pictorial
Behind the scene images of Russian tennis star Maria Sharapova when filming a HEAD Tennis commercial (video further below) in which she “tested” the brand’s Graphene™ racquet in some odd situations.
Update – The video has been deleted from the official channel, use your imagination =)
Kimiko Date-Krumm Iyo Bank Commercials
Japanese commercials for Iyo Bank, featuring Kimiko Date-Krumm (age 42) who’s currently the oldest tennis player in the top 100 world ranking. She’s also the second oldest player to win a WTA tournament (39 in 2009) and held the record for highest ranked ever Asian female player (4th) before overtaken by Chinese Li Na.
Li Na Time Magazine Cover
Chinese tennis star Li Na is featured on the cover of Time Magazine, which also named her as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
The 31-year-old Chinese player rose to prominence after winning the French Open in 2011, the first Asian to win a Grand Slam singles title.
Squash Olympic Bid
A video to promote squash, featuring world #1 Ramy Ashour of Egypt and Nicol David of Malaysia. The World Squash Federation (WSF) has been working for a decade for the racquet sport to be included in the Olympic Games (next for 2020)…
For various reasons there are limited numbers of sports that could feature in the Olympics (which are reviewed after every edition). There’s one slot left for the 2020 Games which will be decided by an IOC poll later this year.
While squash makes some fair points the voting is often decided by political and financial reasons. If the sport is not popular in one of the richer (or powerful) countries the chance of inclusion looks dim, regardless of how popular it is elsewhere.