15 November, Dubai, Emirates Al Matum Swimming Pool.

The 9,000-seat swimming pool seats just over 200 spectators.

The number of reporters and videographers from all over the world at the scene was close to 200......

Of the more than 200 spectators, more than half of them are East Asian faces, and the number of Dubai locals who come to watch the game is not large.

Although today is only a preliminary round, the scene is too deserted.

Can't locals afford tickets?

Apparently impossible.

It can only be said that swimming is a very niche sport in Dubai and even the whole of West Asia, and the mass base is not deep.

In fact, the physical fitness and athleticism of West Asians are not worse than those of East Asians, but it is rare to see West Asian athletes in swimming competitions.

Some experts tried to explain the reason why West Asians were not good at swimming in terms of bone density, saying that West Asians had too much bone density and insufficient buoyancy, and this theory was later overturned.

Here is a quote from a report by veteran sports journalist Shu Xiaocheng: "...... There are very few swimmers in West Asia, and I think there are two main reasons for this: the lack of fresh water resources and the religious beliefs. It is obviously unrealistic to build a large number of swimming pools in desert areas where fresh water resources are scarce. Arabs, who wear large robes to cover their skin for religious reasons, seem to have a prejudice against swimming that requires light travel. Although many Arab countries are now very secular, the customs and culture accumulated over the years have made swimming a niche sport in West Asia. ”

Some people think it's strange, yes, West Asians don't like to swim, why did Dubai take the initiative to apply to host the Asian Swimming Championships? A high-end and advanced swimming pool was also built for this purpose.

Because the West Asians are no longer short of money, what they need is a higher presence, such as international influence.

Therefore, they took the opportunity of hosting the Asian Championships to expand their international influence, and if they can't expand to the whole world, they can also spread throughout Asia.

So Abu Dhabi, the emirate next to Dubai, spent sky-high money to build an F1 track, and since then there has been the F1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. F1's international influence is even greater.

So Qatar, the UAE's neighbor and another local tycoon, is ready to apply to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup, and if they succeed in hosting the World Cup, their international influence will increase more than if they sell oil for a few years.

Arab merchants have been doing business since ancient times, and it seems to be true.

The Arabs have their own plans, and Duke, who is preparing for the preliminaries in the swimming pool, also has his own ideas.

Du Ke looked at his teammate Sun Yang next to him, and then at a member of the South Korean team, and said in his heart, the champions and runners-up of the men's 400 self-event at the London Olympics are here, and I am under a lot of pressure!

The handsome guy on the Korean team is the famous Park Tae-hwan.

The 23-year-old Park Tae-hwan won the gold medal in the men's 400m freestyle at the '08 Olympics and won the 400m free at the World Championships in Rome, and won three gold medals in the freestyle in the 100m, 200m and 400m at the 2010 Asian Games in China, completing the Grand Slam (Asian Games, Olympics, World Championships) in two years.

In the 10 Asian Games, Park Tae-hwan played extremely well and swept Asia, and after he returned to South Korea from China with great honors, he was praised by the Koreans to the sky, and was even praised by the Koreans as the greatest player in the history of world swimming.

At the London Olympics in August this year, Park Tae-hwan lost to Sun Yang by two seconds in the 400-meter freestyle event, which Park Tae-hwan is best at, and won a silver medal.

With the London Olympics men's 400 free champion and Olympic and Asian record holder Sun Yang and runner-up Park Tae-hwan all here, the pressure on Duke is certainly high.

If the pressure is high, you have to go down to the pool to compare and compare.

Du Ke and Sun Yang participated in the preliminaries of the 400 self together, and they were ready to compete immediately.

There are two rounds of preliminaries, with eight groups in the first round, and the top two teams in each group advance to the semifinals. There are two semi-finals, and the top four in each game go to the final.

Sun Yang was placed in Group 1, Du Ke was placed in Group 8, and the two Chinese players' strongest opponents, Park Tae-hwan, were placed in Group 4.

Olympic champion Sun Yang was the first to appear, and as soon as he appeared, he immediately attracted the attention of reporters from all over the world. In fact, more than 80% of the so-called journalists from various countries are from China, Japan and South Korea, and these three East Asian countries are also the three countries with the highest swimming level in Asia, or the three countries with the strongest comprehensive sports strength.

At the 7th Asian Games in Tehran in 1974, the Chinese team was reinstated from the Asian Games, and the Chinese team ranked second in the medal table at that Asian Games (first Japan, third South Korea). From the 7th Tehran Asian Games to the 16th Asian Games in 2010, there have always been only three countries in the top three medal tables in the 10th Asian Games, China, Japan and South Korea.

The Asian Championships also continued the pattern of the three countries, the Chinese swimming team has a star Sun Yang, is undergoing a generational change, the South Korean swimming team under the leadership of Park Tae-hwan has greatly increased in strength, the Japanese swimming team's legendary frog king Kosuke Kitajima is in a semi-retired state and did not come to Dubai, but the overall strength of the Japanese team should not be underestimated.

Sun Yang had already swam at this time, and after 200 meters, the game became no suspense, and Sun Yang was too far ahead.

Du Ke also knew with his eyes closed that Sun Yang would definitely make it to the final, so he paid more attention to his group opponents.

Not to mention Sun Yang and Park Tae-hwan, the athletes who can represent their respective countries will not be far behind. Sun Yang can lead many opponents in other countries, but Du Ke himself is not sure.

Du Ke looked at the list of competition groups in his hand, the 8th group, which is the group he is in, he looked at the list and analyzed the strength of his opponent: "I am in the third lane, the fourth lane is generally the strongest, and my fourth lane is the Japanese player. Gong Chun Ma, lean on ...... What a name? In the fifth lane is the South Korean runner...... Uh, Brother Tian, what's the name of this Korean player? He asked the interpreter next to him.

There are two names on each team member's list, one in the athlete's native language and one in English.

The Japanese name is traditional Chinese characters, so Du Ke can recognize the Japanese player later. Miyaharuma's Japanese name, but he doesn't know Korean.

Translator Tian glanced at the list, shrugged his shoulders and said, "I am an Arabic translator and can speak English, but I don't know Korean either." I look at his English name Ha, Park-Chuangfan, translated into Chinese, the transliteration should be Park Changfan, right? ”

Du Ke was amused when he heard it: "From the perspective of the lane arrangement, the two strongest Japanese and Korean opponents in my group, one is the queen. The spring horses of the palace, one is a prostitute/prostitute, they are too fierce and domineering, I am really under a lot of pressure! ”

Tian Yiyi was also amused by Du Ke: "You kid is very poor, be serious, pay attention to civilization when you go abroad." ”

Du Ke: "Their names are really interesting, are they really named like that?" I haven't heard of these two Japanese and Korean players, newcomers, right? ”

Tian Translator: "How do I know if it's new or not, I'm just a translator, you ask Director Zhou to go." After. Gong is a noble surname in Japan, and there are many Japanese named Haruma, so if there is a Japanese actor named Miura Haruma, you will think crookedly. ”

"There are more surnames in South Korea, this Korean player can be translated as Park Changfan, or Park Chunfan, Park Chunfan, it's okay, I'll just casually say Park Changfan, you can quite relate to it. Yo, Director Zhou shouted to you, come over. ”