Think before damning Li Na

To celebrate Li Na's success at the Australian Open, her promotion company held a party in Beijing recently where she was all smiles unlike her poker-faced appearance at an earlier ceremony in her home province of Hubei. The difference in Li's demeanor on the two occasions reflects her attitude, says an article in Qianjiang Evening News. Excerpts:

Some people have criticized Li for displaying a poker face at the Hubei ceremony where local officials felicitated her for winning the Australian Open. But the tennis ace has said that she dislikes people who try to just put the "icing on the cake" and appreciates only those who provide timely help.

Li has written in her autobiography that when her form let her down and she was confused during the nine years she trained in Hubei, the local sports authorities neither helped her nor allowed her to express herself. Li has also said that the local sports authorities could have provided her timely help by at least encouraging her.

Moreover, Li has always preferred to keep her thoughts to herself, especially during her training sessions. And she is not the only athlete to leave the national sports system.

Although the national sports system plays the most important role in transforming youngsters into world-class athletes, it sometimes has its drawbacks because it cares for and fetes only the winners. Losers, despite their hard work, get nothing in reality.

Ups and downs are part of everyone's life, and even the greatest athletes encounter failure. Therefore, the authorities as well as the public should balance their praise for and criticism of athletes, and provide more timely help to every hard-working athlete whether or not they coin laurels. Perhaps then we can see every athlete smiling.

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(China Daily 02/26/2014 page9)