97-year-old travels 2,400km by bike to see badminton

BEIJING (AFP) — A 97-year-old grandmother has travelled 2,400 kilometres (1,491 miles) by tricyle to watch the Chinese badminton team in action at the Beijing Olympics.

Xiao Xincui, affectionately known as old Xiao, sat in the back while her grandson Liu Xianghui provided the pedal power on their mammoth journey from Henan province in central China.

The epic trip took five weeks and they arrived to see women's singles champion Zhang Ning play on Sunday.

"I'm very excited to be here," said Xiao.

Her grandson said he wanted to make the trip as a thank you to Xiao for bringing him up after his father died when he was young.

Their journey has caught the imagination of the Chinese media and public and they now have tickets to see the 110m hurdles final at the National Stadium where the whole of China will be willing Liu Xiang to win another gold medal.

Published by

Vincent Liew

Vincent Liew is founder of BadmintonPlanet.com. He has been the lead news writer at BadmintonPlanet.com since 2000.

He is also leading BadmintonPlanet.com's digital marketing strategy, and has published videos and articles covering strategy, tips, rules and regulations of badminton on YouTube and various other social media channels.

This video Vincent posted about Rules for Badminton Singles has received more than 1 million views on YouTube.

This video about Rules for Badminton Doubles has received about 900k+ views on YouTube.

Please feel free to reach out to him at webmaster@badmintonplanet.com should you have any questions related to the sport of badminton.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *