Sport
Sun Tiantian looks for new partner for Beijing Games

WUHAN (Xinhua): Athens Olympic women' s doubles tennis champion Sun Tiantian said here on Saturday she would find a new partner for the next year's Beijing Games as soon as possible.

The 26-year-old paired Li Ting to win the first-ever Olympic gold for China's tennis in Athens, beating Conchita Martinez and Virginia Ruano Pascual from Spain 6-3, 6-3 in the final.

However, Sun had to choose a new partner after out-of-form Li retired this Spring at the age of 27. The Chinese national team coaches had put blame on Li for her sharp slump in training and competitions.

"I hope to find my new partner as soon as possible (for Beijing Olympics), but I still have to wait until the winter training session comes," said Sun, who is now accompanying her husband Zhang Peng, who is also the Zhengzhou team coach, at the Sixth Chinese City Games held in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province.

"I have been partnered with Sun Shengnan, Peng Shuai, Li Na and Yan Zi this season, and even worked with some foreign players, but I just can't secure my perfect match."

According to Jiang Hongwei, head coach of the Chinese national team, the right person for Sun will be released no later than the end of the winter training session, a Chinese traditionally annual practice for enhancing the athletes' performance.

"The coaching staff hopes that I can inspire some sparkle with any one of them, but until now it is just not figured out," Sun said.

The past season saw Sun on a surging wave in the doubles event, reaching her career high doubles ranking of 16 five days ago. But to find a fixed partner for Sun is a great concern for the Chinese tennis governing body.

Team China's twice Grand Slam winners Zheng Jie/Yan Zi also hit low gear this season as Zheng is recovering from an ankle injury.

"We all work very hard, but it is normal to meet some barriers in tennis as we did not take deeper roots in China now. The Beijing Olympics is the most important task for us, we will see what is going on after the training session," said Sun, who will end her short break after the City Games and leave for Jiangmen, southern China's Guangdong province, the base for Chinese tennis team's winter training session.

Sport

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