An Ocean Beach resident made it to the quarterfinals of the world championships in women’s soccer with the Chinese national team recently and has now been selected to play for her home country of China in the 2008 Olympics.
Ouying Zhang, 31, was recruited after a two-year absence from the Chinese national team and played in her third World Cup series ” this time in her home country.
After a three-month training camp with many practice matches where she played sparingly, she scored against Holland in a 4-0 victory.
The Chinese players also hosted public relation events to promote the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.
For the one-year countdown, China celebrated in each city, and Ouying appeared on stage at her hometown’s celebration. She also attended her teammate and friend Han Duan’s booksigning and a panel discussion in Beijing.
China started into the World Cup tournament with a 3-2 victory against Denmark. Ouying was on television for about five seconds and tried to get in the game, but the coaches made a different decision. She wasn’t given a chance to play in China’s second match in which the team lost to Brazil 4-0.
Finally, after a typhoon postponed another match, Ouying was in the starting formation against New Zealand. She played 88 minutes with one shot at the goal after breaking away in the very beginning of the match and another when she attempted a bicycle kick. Seventy-nine minutes into the match, Ouying made a short pass that curved in the air to her fellow forward, Xie Caixia, who made the goal. Ouying was given an assist and China won 2-0, making it to the quarterfinals.
China wound up in second place in their Group D behind Brazil.
In the quarterfinal, Ouying was overlooked again in the match against Norway.
“It was extremely frustrating to her because she felt she had proven herself to the coaches,” said husband Edde Iott. Against Norway, China made 22 shots at goal but never connected. They lost 1-0.
Ouying is back in her home town with her family. On Oct 12, Iott will join her to get ready for their Chinese wedding Oct. 21.
“My parents want us to have a big Chinese wedding,” Ouying said. “We don’t really need that, but my parents want to invite all the family and friends.”
The good news after the World Cup was that Ouying was nominated for the Olympic Games in Bejing. She will join the Chinese team in February for training camp.
This will be her third appearance in the Olympic games.