URUMQI Russell Westbrook Jersey , Jan. 27 (Xinhua) -- Ning Qin underlined her status as China's best female freestyle moguls athlete as she successfully defended her title at the National Winter Games here on Wednesday.
Ning, who represents Changchun city in the quadrennially-held event, scored 69.87 points in the final. Her teammate Li Nan took silver with 65.74 points, while Zhang Tingting gained 53.47 points for the bronze medal.
It was the second straight National Games title for the 23-year-old Ning, the first Chinese freestyle skier who made it to the moguls final at Winter Olympics.
"Thanks to these Games as winning the gold medal has helped me regain confidence," said Ning.
"I will be more optimistic about my prospect at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics in 2018."
Ning suffered a wrist fracture in her build-up to the Sochi Winter Olympics. She underwent two operations after the Sochi Games and then was sidelined for about a year.
"But, fortunately, our national team coach, Scott Rawles, gave me a lot of advice and helped me out of the difficult time."
Rawles, formerly the coach of Sochi Olympics gold medalist Hannah Kearney Kristaps Porzingis Jersey , started to take over the Chinese team after the Sochi Games.
In figure skating, world championship runners-up Sui Wenjing and Han Cong, who represents Harbin, earned 82.54 points to lead the short program of the pairs competition.
In men's ice hockey, five-time champions Harbin beat Hulunbeier 7-0 to set up a semifinal clash against Jiamusi, who eliminated hosts Urumqi 4-3. Qiqihar face Chengde in the other semifinal match.
Wang Bingyu Tim Hardaway Jr. Jersey , the former captain of China's national women's curling team, returned to the ice for the first time since 2014 when she led Harbin to a 7-2 victory over Baishan on Wednesday.
"Our teamwork is okay today," said Wang, who got married in 2013 and gave birth to a baby the following year.
Eight gold medals are up for grabs in figure skating, biathlon, moguls and snowboarding on Thursday.
The 13th National Winter Games will run through Jan. 30. For the first time since the winter sports gala was introduced in 1959 the games have been held outside the northeastern provinces of Heilongjiang and Jilin Enes Kanter Jersey , where the frigid climate means winter sports have traditionally enjoyed huge popularity. Enditem
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ABUJA, March 24 (Xinhua) -- Nigeria has named Chelsea FC midfielder John Obi Mikel as new captain of the national football team, also known as the Super Eagles.
Mikel was unveiled as the new skipper at a press conference in the northwestern state of Kaduna on Thursday.
Former team captain Ahmed Musa voluntarily gave up the captain's armband to Mikel, saying he recognized him as ""a senior player of the team"".
""We must thank Musa so much for what he has done today and I promise that Nigerians will see a new brand team with my leadership,"" Mikel told reporters after the announcement.
Last year, Sunday Oliseh Patrick Ewing Jersey , the former head coach of the Super Eagles had named Musa to replace erstwhile skipper and goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama, overlooking Mikel and other senior players of the team.
Mikel's first assignment as skipper of the team will be on Friday, when the Super Eagles take on Pharaohs of Egypt in a 2017 African Cup of Nations qualifier in Kaduna.
The Nigerian team will proceed to Egypt on Sunday for a return leg in the city of Alexandria on March 29. Enditem
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by Maria Spiliopoulou
ATHENS, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) -- Former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis unveiled on Sunday the political manifesto of the new pan-European political movement DiEM25 (Democracy in Europe Movement 25) he will formally launch in Berlin on Tuesday.
""The European Union will be democratized or it will disintegrate,"" read the title of the document posted on his personal blog and social media accounts.
Varoufakis served in the Left-led government of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras from January 2015 until July 2015, holding a key role in -- sometimes stormy -- negotiations with Greece's lenders over the handling of the Greek debt crisis.
He resigned a day after the July 5 referendum on Greece's third bailout since 2010 and a few days before it was sealed in Brussels Carmelo Anthony Jersey , blasting ""EU's democratic deficit.""
His new political platform's key goal is to strengthen democracy within the EU by 2025, according to the manifesto.
Varoufakis and other ""committed democrats who decided to act"" according to the document, seek among others full transparency in decision-making, for example in live-streaming of European Council, Ecofin and Eurogroup meetings, and a comprehensive plan to address the economic crisis within the eurozone.
The DiEM25 movement also calls for the convention of a Constitutional Assembly of European representatives to work on a European Constitution that should be effective as of 2025.
""The European Union was an exceptional achievement New York Knicks Jersey , bringing together in peace European peoples speaking different languages, submersed in different cultures, proving that it was possible to create a shared framework of human rights across a continent that was, not long ago, home to murderous chauvinism, racism and barbarity E'Twaun Moore Jersey ,"" read the manifesto.
""Alas, today, a common bureaucracy and a common currency divide European peoples that were beginning to unite despite our different languages and cultures,"" the document claimed.
""A confederacy of myopic politicians, economically na?ve officials and financially incompetent 'experts' submit slavishly to the edicts of financial and industrial conglomerates, alienating Europeans and stirring up a dangerous anti-European backlash... There must be another course Julius Randle Jersey ,"" it said.