Chinese table tennis player Fan Zhendong's alma mater in southern China's Guangzhou City watched the Olympic final and celebrated his Olympic singles gold that sealed a career grand slam.
Fan defeated Truls Moregard of Sweden 4-1 to win the men's singles gold medal at the Paris Olympics on Sunday. The win made him the 10th Chinese player to achieve a Grand Slam, having won the World Championships, World Cup and Olympic titles.
The match drew national attention as it was the first time in 20 years that a player from outside China had challenged for the men's singles gold medal at the Olympics since Korea's Ryu Seung Min defeated China's Wang Hao, Fan's coach, in the 2004 final.
Teachers, coaches and students from the Guangzhou Sports Polytechnic, where Fan was trained as a child, gathered in the hall to watch the final and enthusiastically cheer on their alumnus.
The crowd roared after the 27-year-old Chinese player won the gold medal point with a backhand shot.
After the match, the audience members spectating from Guangzhou offered well-wishes to the honored alumnus.
"I hope he can continue his efforts, play well in the group matches and win another gold medal for the country. I hope he'll go for it," said Zhang Min, Fan's training coach.
"[He] inspired me to keep going when I want to give up. Come on, Fan Zhendong, come on, my senior!" said Dong Houxuan, a table tennis student at Guangzhou Sports Polytechnic.
Olympian Fan Zhendong’s alma mater celebrate table tennis gold
Olympian Fan Zhendong’s alma mater celebrate table tennis gold
A high-level mediation team from the African Union (AU) Commission has been dispatched to Juba, capital of South Sudan, to try to ease the rising tensions between President Salva Kiir and First Vice President Riek Machar, and help resolve the current political crisis in the country.
Riek Machar and several senior officials have been detained since clashes erupted in January between the South Sudan People's Defense Forces and the opposition fighters.
Machar was accused of instigating violence in Nasir in the northern part of the country.
The mediation team says it plans to engage Machar, but that meeting is yet to take place.
The AU is urging South Sudanese political leaders to resolve the current disagreement through dialogue.
Machar heads the largest opposition group that has an armed wing in the country, known as SPLM/A-IO.
South Sudan's government says it's still investigating Machar for being allegedly involved in clashes between government troops and armed civilians affiliated to SPLM/A-IO in Nasir.
"The mandate of the RTGoNU (the Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity) is simple; that we stop war, we form a revitalized government of national unity so that we return security, sustainable peace in the country," said Martin Elia Lomuro, South Sudan's Minister of Cabinet Affairs.
Meanwhile, Machar's party members are calling on president Kiir to order the release of their leader.
The group argues that the arrest of Machar means the 2018 peace deal which ended five years of violence in the country has partially collapsed.
The government reaffirms its commitment to the implementation of the 2018 peace deal.
It says Mr. Machar is in conflict with the law and that the implementation of the peace deal should not be used as cover to commit crime. However, until now, South Sudanese law enforcement agencies have not charged Machar with any offense in a court of law.
South Sudan, which became independent in 2011, signed a peace deal in 2018 that ended a civil war between forces loyal to Kiir and Machar. Nearly 400,000 people died in the civil war.
Relations between Kiir and Machar, who have dominated South Sudan's politics for decades, remain strained. The clashes and latest political tensions between the two leaders have unsettled many citizens and the international community.
AU dispatches Panel of Wise to address ongoing instability in South Sudan
