THREE Shenzhen female athletes’ excellent performances attracted worldwide attention Sunday, the second day at the Tokyo Olympics. Liang Meiyu, Ou Yushan and Tang Muhan achieved high scores in hockey, gymnastics and swimming, respectively, Shenzhen Evening News reported.

Liang Meiyu, Chinese national women’s hockey team member, scored one critical point when China took on the 2018 Asian Games champion Japan on Sunday. China beat Japan 4-3 in the women’s pool B match for the Olympics field hockey competition.

“The coach and members of the Shenzhen hockey team have focused on and watched the livestream of the race,” said Li Juan, the hockey coach of Shenzhen City Body Work Group. “We paid close attention to and actively analyzed each point won by Chinese and Japanese teams. When they were neck and neck, the Chinese hockey team soothed their emotion, remaining calm and resolute, which encouraged the young viewers very much.”

Li confirmed the efforts made by Liang to score the winning shot. “A falling shot is very difficult for a female to complete. The point reflects Liang, a three-time Olympic athlete, still tried her best to win the competition in pursuit of victory,” she said.

The national women’s hockey team, Beijing Olympics silver medalist, now with new members and is vying for gold this time.

Ou Yushan, a first-time gymnast for the Olympics, made her first performance in the women’s gymnastics individual event qualifiers Sunday. Ou scored 13.633 points for vault and 13.933 points for balance beam.

Song Ni, Ou’s gymnastics coach, watched the live match, saying that “It is a relief that nobody got injured. Her overall performance is quite good and stable.

“She did well in vault and uneven bars but the performance in balance beam is relatively poor. I hope she can present better in the following races despite injuries.”

At the women’s 400-meter swimming preliminary Sunday night, Tang Muhan rewrote her record, finishing the eight-lap course in 4 minutes 4.7 seconds. With her personal best, Tang advanced to the finals.

Tang’s coach Yang Liping was very excited about Tang’s debut. “It is eventful for her to shorten the time by over 1 second. I didn’t expect that,” she said.

(Xia Yuanjie)