WELLINGTON: When qualifier Lulu Sun wept after reaching the quarter-finals at Wimbledon, tears were also being shed on the other side of the world at her tennis club in a small rural town in New Zealand.
Sun, ranked 123rd in the world, cried openly on center court following her stunning 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 fourth-round win over Emma Raducanu, the 2021 US Open champion, after becoming the first New Zealand woman to reach the last eight at Wimbledon.
Sun, 23, was born in the remote town of Te Anau, near the bottom of New Zealand’s South Island.
A small party broke out in the early hours of Monday morning at the local tennis club as her latest Wimbledon triumph unfolded.
Greg Sheppard, president of Te Anau Tennis Club, said he and around 20 members had been glued to the clubhouse television to witness Sun’s victory.
“It was nerve-racking and very exciting,” Sheppard told AFP.
“When she started crying, we had a few tears in the clubhouse too. It was quite emotional.
“We’re fully pumped for her. It’s unbelievable, something we have never had before. It’ll be great to see Lulu when she is next home.”
Sun is the daughter of a Chinese mother and Croatian father.
After living in Te Anau — a town she describes as having “more sheep and deer than people” — Sun moved with her mother to Shanghai before settling in Switzerland.
Until this year, she was playing under the Swiss flag having played college tennis in the United States.
Sheppard said there was immense pride in seeing Sun play so well, so far away.
“I reckon if you dug a hole, you’d probably come out in Wimbledon. We are right on the other side,” he joked.
The draughtsman said he struggled to get any work done on Monday.
“I got home around 7am and charged my phone up, I’d run out of battery twice. My phone has been ringing red hot,” said Sheppard, who anticipates another sleep-interrupted night when Sun plays Croatia’s Donna Vekic in the last eight on Tuesday.
Sun will be bidding to become only the second New Zealand woman to reach the last four at a Grand Slam, after Belinda Cordwell at the 1989 Australian Open.
“Hopefully it will be closer to the start of the night or at the other end, where we can have a cooked breakfast to go with our next match watching,” said Sheppard, who remembers Sun as a 13-year-old winning games against the club’s top men.
Her most recent appearance at the club, which has around 120 members, was an exhibition in 2018 and they will invite Sun to a tournament in December.
“We’ll be hoping she comes along, shows us a trophy or a medal or two,” said Sheppard.
“I don’t know if we’ll get a hit of tennis out of her, it would be quite cool if we did.”
Tears of joy at New Zealand tennis club as Sun shines at Wimbledon
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Tears of joy at New Zealand tennis club as Sun shines at Wimbledon
- A small party broke out in the early hours of Monday morning at the local tennis club as her latest Wimbledon triumph unfolded
Bangladesh replaced by Scotland at T20 World Cup, reports say
- Bangladesh had asked the ICC to move their games to the tournament co-hosts Sri Lanka instead
- Scotland, the highest-ranked non-qualifier, are now set to take Bangladesh’s place in Group C
DUBAI: Bangladesh have been replaced by Scotland for next month’s Twenty20 World Cup after the South Asian side refused to travel to co-hosts India, media reports said on Saturday citing sources within the sport’s governing International Cricket Council.
The decision follows weeks of uncertainty, during which the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) repeatedly insisted it would not play its scheduled matches in India, citing safety concerns following soured political relations between the neighbors.
Bangladesh had asked the ICC to move their games to the tournament co-hosts Sri Lanka instead, but the governing body rejected the demand, dismissing any security threat to the team.
Scotland, the highest-ranked non-qualifier, are now set to take Bangladesh’s place in Group C, which features England, Italy, Nepal and West Indies, the BBC reported.
Reuters has contacted the ICC, BCB and Cricket Scotland for comment.
PROTESTS NEAR BANGLADESH HIGH COMMISSION
Last month, hundreds of people protested near Bangladesh’s High Commission in New Delhi after Hindu factory worker Dipu Chandra Das was beaten and set on fire in Bangladesh’s Mymensingh district by a crowd that accused him of making derogatory remarks about Prophet Muhammad.
A total of 12 people were arrested in connection with his death.
The incident worsened relations between India and its neighbor, with ties already strained after Bangladesh’s former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled to New Delhi following protests against her.
Political tensions have spilled into cricket.
Bangladesh bowler Mustafizur Rahman was dropped from this year’s Indian Premier League despite signing with its Kolkata franchise. Bangladesh responded by banning IPL broadcasts in the country and demanding to play World Cup matches in Sri Lanka.
The standoff mirrors previous tensions in South Asian cricket.
For the Champions Trophy last year, the Indian cricket board (BCCI) stuck to its policy of not touring Pakistan because of the strained political ties between the bitter neighbors, who play each other only in ICC events.
Like for the 2023 Asia Cup in Pakistan, a ‘hybrid model’ was agreed on under which India were allowed to play their Champions Trophy matches in Dubai to salvage the tournament.
Under the agreement running until 2027, Pakistan will play in a neutral venue for any ICC event, including the T20 World Cup where they are scheduled to play their matches in Sri Lanka.
The 20-team World Cup is set to begin on February 7.
