Wu eyes two tennis golds at the Hangzhou Asian Games

HANGZHOU, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- China's Wu Yibing revealed his goal of winning both singles and doubles tennis golds at the Hangzhou Asian Games after completing the torch relay here on Wednesday.

The torch returned to the host city today after a 12-day relay which started on September 8, marking the participation of 2,022 torchbearers in 11 cities of Zhejiang province and finished by Wu.

Born in Hangzhou in 1999, Wu took up tennis at a young age, and became the first player from the Chinese mainland to lift an ATP Tour trophy after winning the Dallas Open title on February 12, 2023.

"I've been playing abroad during the last two years and left my home city for such a long time, so being a torchbearer here is such a delight for me."

"We were welcomed and cheered by citizens along the way to every torchbearer's position this morning. It was so touching to participate in such a large event at home that it almost made me cry when I saw all of these."

An icon of Chinese tennis, Wu frequently sends messages of encouragement and support to his peers via the press, especially when he recalled the childhood memories after finishing his run today.

"I have a strong sense of belonging to Hangzhou, there weren't so many beautiful buildings in this area when I was young. So I want to tell young people to preserve your dreams and chase them. We younger generations are like a flame and we have the obligation to light it up."

Wu took a silver medal at the Jakarta Asian Games in 2018 when he was 18 years old and ranked only behind 300th in the world then. Five years on, he is filled with strong confidence now. "My aim is to grab all the golds in men's tennis."

"I hope all the athletes can enjoy the games and Hangzhou's charming scenery." Wu added.