Stringy Wind in the Ear - Chap 64
As the sun rose, the commercial vehicle stopped in front of the stadium’s main entrance and the team got off the vehicle one after another. Each team member carried two sets of equipment, one for competition and one for backup.
Li Xun got off the car right after the translator and the team doctor, walking at the end. However, since he was not an athlete today, he could not enter the registration area and had to say goodbye.
He chatted with the team leader for a while, then turned his attention back to Song Yang and asked, “Are you nervous?”
This was Song Yang’s first time participating in an international competition, and he was facing foreign opponents. It would be unrealistic to say that he was not nervous, and this nervousness was directly proportional to his desire to win a ranking.
His heart has not slowed down since he got off the car, and it has already caught up with the speed when he kissed her secretly last night.
He held Li Xun’s right hand and placed it on his heart: “Feel it.”
“It’s really fast.”
“I almost suspected that I had a heart attack.”
“That’s not the case. It was the same when I was in the finals.” Li Xun was so absorbed in the experience that he didn’t notice that the coaches and teammates were looking at them with spectators’ eyes.
Until Song Yang pushed his arm away: “Hey, I let you feel it, I didn’t let you rub it randomly.”
Li Xun leaned close to his ear and said in a barely audible voice, “You are so sensitive.”
Song Yang’s forehead was smoking.
Li Xun turned to leave but was blocked by Wu Jianian.
Wu Jianian had sensed that there was something going on between the two of them since they changed rooms last night, but because Li Xun was his senior, he didn’t dare to ask directly if the two of them were in that kind of relationship, so he asked very tactfully: “What did you just say to him? Why does he look so shy?”
Li Xun remained calm: “I told him to do his best.”
After entering the venue, the athletes assembled their accessories. Since the athletes’ bows and arrows are dangerous items, according to regulations, they may not be used outside the competition venues and training grounds. Therefore, they can only assemble them by themselves before entering the venue. They also have to undergo inspection by staff to ensure that the equipment is compliant before they are allowed to enter the venue for warm-up.
Song Yang found a small round stool and sat down. As soon as he opened the box, he felt a strong impact on his back. Before he could react, the whole box of accessories fell from his legs and scattered all over the floor.
The chair fell over, and he fell uncontrollably backwards. The team members nearby reached out to help him in panic, but they were too slow and their help was in vain.
Song Yang fell to the ground without any cushioning, kneeling on one knee with his palms resting on the bent bow pieces.
The person who bumped into him was a fat foreigner. He gasped when he saw the situation, helped the man up, and apologized profusely.
“That’s okay.” Song Yang’s first reaction after standing up was not to check if he had any bruises on his body, but to pick up the bow piece that was pressed on the ground. Fortunately, there was no big problem.
Li Xun found his seat in the audience, seat 18, row 1, section A, parallel to the arrow path and only a few meters away from the shooting line. It was one of the areas with the best view.
More than ten years ago, at the National Archery Championships held in South City, Song Yang was watching him from this position. Now, Song Yang could find him by just turning his head.
The reason why he was able to buy the ticket for this seat was not because he grabbed the ticket early or offered a high bid, but because archery is an unpopular sport. Apart from Macau locals and some athletes’ family members and relatives, very few fans would come specially to watch the game.
There was still half an hour before the start of the first round of qualifying. Only half of the audience seats were occupied. The seats were sparsely packed and were all yellow. From a distance, they looked like gnawed corn cobs.
The bright banners in the front row read “Go China!”
No matter how well prepared a competition is, unexpected situations will always arise when it comes to the competition.
Two photographers argued loudly about a tripod; the narrator asked why the microphone was silent.
Li Xun was waiting in the midst of an anxious clamor when he was suddenly patted on the shoulder. He turned around and asked in surprise, “Coach, why are you here too?”
In fact, such questions are just conditioned reflexes without the help of the brain. After a brief reaction, Li Xun already has the answer in his mind.
The coach is here to look for new players.
Theoretically, the national team discovers new players through the rankings of the Provincial Games and the National Games. Those who perform well in the Provincial Games will naturally be recommended. However, some good players may lose the opportunity to participate in the Provincial Games for some reason, or they may win awards in the Provincial Games but not be recommended. This results in the national team having no chance to come into contact with these new players.
The minds of young people are easily shaken, especially if they have not achieved anything decent in two or three years. They may give up. But if a mentor discovers them and gives them some guidance, it will be a different matter.
Therefore, national team staff often visit various places to discover new talents.
There was no one beside Li Xun, so Wang Nanfeng sat down and said, “Didn’t you tell me you were going home to see your dad? Why are you here?”
“If there are any familiar teammates, please come and have a look. I will be back in two days.”
“Who is this familiar team member?”
“My two apprentices who I taught at school.”
“Show it to me later.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the referee in blue uniform entered from the entrance, followed by groups of athletes wearing team uniforms and protective gear.
Li Xun’s attention was completely drawn to it, and he had no time to care about anything else.
After waiting for a long time, I finally saw the bright red team uniforms.
The Chinese team selected 16 young athletes from all over the country, eight men and eight women. In addition to Song Yang and Yu Shenwei, Li Xun also recognized a girl, Wang Yuer, whom he had seen in an exhibition match before.
She and Song Yang walked out side by side, talking and laughing all the way.
Song Yang never looked towards the audience from beginning to end.
Li Xun narrowed his eyes.
This thirty-year-old Scorpio secretly holds a grudge.
The rules of the indoor open competition are quite simple. The distance between the shooting line and the target paper is only 18 meters. Each person has 60 arrows, which are shot in two batches with a few minutes of rest in between. Finally, the ranking is based on the total number of rings, and the top 32 advance to the knockout round.
The knockout round adopts a one-on-one PK mode, with half of the people eliminated in each round. After three rounds, only four people are left on the field, and then the battle for the championship and runner-up will begin.
Short-range shooting is Song Yang’s strong point. Li Xun calculated it for him when he was still in school. The ten-ring hit rate is about 60% to 68%. Such a result is considered a top-level one in China, but the world record holder for this range has a ten-ring hit rate of over 90%. This is a scary gap.
After the staff read out the rules, fifty athletes took to the field one after another.
Opposite them is a square target with two long target papers, each with six circles. That is to say, every five arrows of the athlete must be shot within the same circle. Any wrong shot will be considered as missing the target.
In addition, the time limit for these five arrows is 100 seconds, and if you fail to shoot all the arrows in time, it will be recorded as a zero ring.
In such a tense and exciting environment, many athletes shot the wrong targets. After the first round, the highest score was only 580, which was lower than Li Xun expected.
Wang Nanfeng also said: “This year’s results feel pretty average.”
Li Xun: “Not necessarily. The players from South Korea and the United States haven’t played yet, and neither has our Chinese team.”
After waiting for nearly an hour, it was finally the Chinese team’s turn. The current highest score was 590 rings won by An Zhiyu.
Song Yang’s position is in area D, with three Indian athletes between him and Li Xun.
In comparison, Song Yang’s skin can be described as glowing white.
He wore a baseball cap and his chest protector was covered with cartoon stickers with the logos of the competition sponsors and Macau’s special tourist attractions. He wore the bright red team uniform to look like a trendy brand and his looks were in no way inferior to those of European and American players. Even the cameraman stayed in front of him for a few more seconds.
Song Yang made eye contact with Li Xun in the audience, waved and smiled.
Li Xun mouthed, “Relax.”
The distance was quite far, and he was not sure whether Song Yang could see clearly, but the next second, Song Yang nodded at him and made an OK gesture.
Wang Nanfeng saw the interaction between the two and guessed, “Is this the apprentice you taught at school?”
“Yes.” Li Xun pointed at Yu Shenwei, “And the guy with the thin-framed glasses next to him, I don’t know the others.”
Wang Nanfeng: “They are all very handsome, except Song…Song what?”
“Song Yang.”
“Well, Song Yang’s face is a little small.”
“But he defeated more than 200 male contestants from all over the country whose faces were bigger than his in the trials.”
Wang Nanfeng smiled and asked, “What are the personalities of these two people like?”
Honestly speaking, Yu Shenwei’s character is generally considered a compliment. He is usually arrogant and conceited, does not know how to take his words seriously, and does not respect his teammates. However, Li Xun does not have the habit of gossiping behind people’s backs. He skipped over these parts and passed them off with a perfunctory “okay”. The main praise was focused on Song Yang.
“He has a little talent for archery.”
Wang Nanfeng rarely heard Li Xun praise others, so he asked with interest, “How do you say that?”
Li Xun: “He is smart and a quick learner. He only started learning the basic movements during the summer vacation of his senior year in high school. At that time, I was still working at the archery club, and I taught him lessons. He only took one month to reach a level that others might not be able to reach in half a year. He really likes archery and is willing to work hard in this area.”
Wang Nanfeng looked at the arena full of young people and sighed: “Everyone really likes it at the beginning, but there are really not many people who can stick to it.”
When Li Xun saw Song Yang’s arrow fall into the center of the target, his eyes were filled with confidence.
“He’s definitely going to stick with it.”
“Are you so sure?”
“Well, I know him. He has a pure mind. He is not after money or fame. The belief that supports him is winning. Our goals are the same.”
It is to break the monopoly.
As he was speaking, the first round of thirty arrows had been fired.
Li Xun picked up the telescope at hand and pointed it at the target paper, doing quick mental arithmetic. As the scores accumulated, the curve of his mouth became bigger and bigger, and finally he slapped his thigh.
Wang Nanfeng, who was standing beside him, was startled by him: “Why are you so excited?”
“Song Yang’s total score is 295, and his ten-ring hit rate is as high as 83%!”
Wang Nanfeng asked: “What is his usual level?”
Li Xun licked the gap between his lips.
If he remembered correctly, the last time he recorded Song Yang’s 18-meter score was four months ago. At that time, his best result was only 290 points. The fact that Song Yang could raise the score so high in such a short period of time was beyond his expectations.
So far, Song Yang’s score has not only surpassed Yu Shenwei, but is also equal to that of An Zhiyu, the highest scorer of the South Korean team.
Wang Nanfeng’s emotions were also aroused by him, and he turned his attention to Song Yang: “But it depends on whether he can maintain this level in the next thirty arrows.”
Generally speaking, the total number of rings of an athlete’s last thirty arrows will be less than that of the first thirty arrows. One reason is that with the consumption of physical energy, muscle endurance will be greatly reduced; the other reason is that people’s attention cannot be concentrated for a long time.
At any time, the fear of making mistakes is more likely to make mistakes, and once you make a mistake, you will make mistakes one after another.
The Indian player near the audience seats had already shot eight rings in a row.
In this world-class competition, hitting the eight rings is considered a serious mistake.
As the qualifying round was coming to an end, Song Yang only had ten arrows left in his quiver. So far, there were only eight nine-ring arrows on his target, and the rest were all ten-ring arrows.
If he can get eight ten-rings in the next ten arrows, his score will be the same as An Zhiyu’s, and one more ring will mean first place.
The air conditioning in the venue was no longer working. Li Xun’s heart beat faster and his palms were sweating.
He noticed that Song Yang took longer to aim than at the beginning, which must be due to excessive nervousness.
He prayed silently that nothing would go wrong.
Every time Song Yang raised the bow, he held his breath, and he did not dare to exhale until the arrow hit the center of the bull’s eye, with his brows tightly furrowed.
Wang Nanfeng saw it and smiled faintly. He seemed to see himself taking Li Xun abroad for a competition for the first time more than ten years ago.
In the blink of an eye, a new generation emerges.
The good news is that today’s training venues and equipment are much better than before, and the athletes’ level is much higher than their generation.
Ten years ago, who would have believed that an athlete who had trained for more than two years could perform at this level?
Song Yang shot the last arrow without any mistakes, and Li Xun’s tension was finally relieved and he resumed his normal breathing.
As the referee blew the whistle, all the athletes put down their bows and arrows, and the assistant referees came forward to count the scores.
Song Yang’s total number of rings is the same as An Zhiyu’s, 590 points, but there is a small circle in the middle of the ten rings on the target paper, which is called the inner ten rings.
When the scores of both teams are tied, the hit rate of the ten inner rings will be considered, or the two players will each shoot one arrow until the winner is determined, depending on the rules of the competition.
This game used the former.
Relatively speaking, An Zhiyu is more skilled and has five more inner ten rings.
Then there is no doubt that he ranks first in total score, Song Yang ranks second, and Yu Shenwei ranks tenth.
After Wang Nanfeng looked at the men’s ranking results, he made a habitual analysis and summary: “Yu Shenwei didn’t lose because of his poor skills, but because of his unstable rhythm and too fast aiming. Did you notice that his ten-ring hit rate is higher than Song Yang’s? If it weren’t for that eight-ring, his subsequent results would definitely be more outstanding.”
Li Xun said, “Hmm,” “It takes him no more than ten seconds from raising the bow to releasing the arrow.”
Such speed is rarely seen in international competitions.
Wang Nanfeng joked, “He is more suitable for team games.”
Li Xun understood what he meant. In the team competition, the three players shared the target aiming time, twenty seconds each, a total of sixty seconds. It didn’t matter if someone exceeded the time, the person behind could just make up for it.
Not long after, the ranking of the women’s team was announced. Three athletes advanced, and one Taiwanese athlete even took first place.
Wang Nanfeng smiled with relief: “Girls are really good.”
Li Xun: “Women are as good as men. This is an old tradition of our project.”
In this regard, girl groups are much better than boy groups.
The first Olympic gold medal for the Chinese archery team was won by Zhang Juanjuan, followed by several silver medals for the women’s team.
So far, the best result the men’s archery team has achieved at the Olympics is a bronze medal, won by Fujian athlete Dai Xiaoxiang at the 2012 London Olympics.
After that, the archery team didn’t have any outstanding results.
The indoor competition lasted for five days with tight schedule. The athletes took a short break before the 1/16 elimination round.
The rules of the knockout round are also relatively simple. The two players take turns shooting arrows, with each player shooting three arrows per round. The winner wins two points, a tie gets one point each, and the loser gets no points. Whoever gets six points first wins.
In the first game, Song Yang played against the Indian player ranked 31st, and Yu Shenwei played against the 24th.
This allocation is made to ensure the watchability of the game, and the strong players in the ranking competition will only meet at the end.
With the comfort of their coach, the two players performed normally and advanced without any suspense.
At seven o’clock in the evening, the gymnasium was brightly lit.
The men’s recurve archery quarter-finals are about to begin. At this moment, the audience seats are already full. Of course, half of them are eliminated athletes.
Wang Nanfeng saw Li Xun standing up and said, “Are you going to the bathroom? Bring me a bottle of mineral water.”
“Okay, I just happened to buy some water too.”
Li Xun ran into An Zhiyu at the entrance of the passage. The latter was chatting with a slightly plump middle-aged man. Both of them were Korean. He could not understand a word of their conversation, but he vaguely heard the word “Dad”. He was not sure if he heard it correctly.
The middle-aged man’s gaze stayed on Li Xun for a long time, and An Zhiyu also stared at him until his back disappeared at the end of the passage.
When he came back, the two men stared at him like a searchlight.
Li Xun frowned and lowered his head to check.
There was nothing wrong with his clothes and pants, but when he turned to look at the middle-aged man, the man quickly looked away.
He muttered something incomprehensible in his heart and strode towards the audience seats.
In the quarter-finals, Song Yang will face An Zhiyu, and Yu Shenwei will face Mason from the American team.
Li Xun’s attention was previously focused on Song Yang, and he had no impression of this Mason, so he asked the assistant referee nearby about this man’s results in the previous rounds.
What’s a bit strange is that Mason was promoted from 31st place.
Wang Nanfeng analyzed: “Either he made a mistake in the first game and finished 32nd, or…”
“Conserve your strength!” Li Xun and Wang Nanfeng said at the same time.
If it is the latter, then Mason is a very scheming athlete. Of course, in the arena, any “scheming” that does not violate the rules is not a derogatory term.
“He may have done it to confuse his opponent at the beginning,” said Li Xun.
Wang Nanfeng: “Then this person’s strength really can’t be underestimated. Is there any information about him on the Internet?”
Li Xun: “No, I’m also a newcomer.”
The master and apprentice had very accurate intuition. Mason conserved his strength in the early stage and scored three ten rings at the beginning, which was very stable. He made Yu Shenwei very confused and finally defeated Yu Shenwei in seconds with a score of 6:0.
After the performance, Yu Shenwei hung his head, said nothing, and his palms were slightly sweaty. After a day, his muscles had reached their limit and his arms were shaking when he drank water.
It is normal to win and lose in a competition, but he has never lost so badly, and he lost to a foreigner. This feeling of frustration was unprecedented and so strong that he wanted to break the arrow.
With his loss, all the expectations and enthusiasm of the Chinese audience shifted to Song Yang.
I saw him changing into a short-sleeved shirt before going on stage, probably because it was hot.
Although the venue was air-conditioned, there were too many people and the effect was not great.
Wang Nanfeng said: “Song Yang’s condition was obviously much more tense than this morning. The bottle cap even fell off twice.”
Li Xun also noticed that, in comparison, An Zhiyu was much calmer. He was chatting and laughing with his teammates sitting in the audience, and didn’t look like he was going to play in the finals at all.
Li Xun cheered for Song Yang from afar.
Song Yang received the signal and curled the corners of his mouth somewhat forcedly. This smile fully expressed his psychological activities at the moment – I’m so fucking nervous.
This was his first time playing against a Korean, who was last year’s indoor champion. This background would create an invisible pressure.
“Don’t worry about him. Just play freely and show your best.”
After Li Xun finished speaking, some foreign audience members nearby all looked over. Some guessed that it was the teaching assistant, while others directly asked what his relationship with Song Yang was.
Li Xun smiled and replied: “He’s my family.”
