Former rising star Hu Na once represented the Chinese team in the 1982 Tennis Federation Cup, and countless viewers had high hopes for her to win glory for the country.
She made an unexpected choice at a crucial moment in the game, choosing to defect and even changing her nationality to compete for the United States.
However, when she longed to return to China in her later years to live a retired life, such a move naturally caused outrage among the domestic population.
Why did she defect back then?What do you plan to do when you return home?
In 1982, the Chinese women's national tennis team went abroad for the first time and participated in the Tennis Federation Cup held in the United States, showing the world the style and strength of Chinese tennis.
This marks an important step for Chinese tennis to go global since the reform and opening up.
An emerging young athlete from our country showed extraordinary strength in this match, successfully defeating the Japanese team. The Chinese team won the first match, and both the athletes and the spectators were in high spirits.
It is generally believed that with such a fierce player, the Chinese team will definitely achieve excellent results in the next competition.
This emerging star of the stadium is Hu Na.
Hu Na was born in 1963, and her family is a sports family in Sichuan. Her grandfather, Wen Ling, was a tennis coach, and her grandmother was a professional basketball player at the time.
Hu Na seems to have inherited her maternal grandfather's excellent sports talent, her sports cells are very developed, and she has shown her super sports talent since she was a child.
When her family saw it, they decided to nurture her and let her develop in the direction of sports.
Hu Na started learning tennis at the age of four, and she has improved so quickly that she can master almost all tennis skills with ease.
Grandpa was pleased with Hu Na's tennis talent, which happened to be retired at home. As a result, my grandfather spent most of his time coaching Hu Na to play, and as time went on, Hu Na's tennis skills became stronger and stronger.
Her grandfather took Hu Na to competitions everywhere after her skills matured, and she lived up to his grandfather's expectations and achieved excellent results in all the competitions she was able to participate in.
Hu Na was selected by the coach of the Sichuan provincial team, joined the team at the age of 10 and received systematic tennis skills training.
By the age of 15, she had become a central figure in the provincial team, and her skills were unrivaled, beating all opponents and winning the Women's Singles title at the national junior level.
Hu Na successfully entered the national team with excellent results, but once she arrived at the national team, she found that her competitors were strong, which made her feel proud and proud. Therefore, in the national team, she trained harder and harder.
She underwent rigorous and intense training with the national team, and her level improved rapidly.
She has achieved excellent results in various provincial competitions and has also been among the best in some national competitions as well.
She has a passion for tennis, so she devotes all her energy to it. She believes that God rewards hard work, and she is a very gifted child herself, so her skills are constantly improving.
Until 1980, 18-year-old Hu Na had reached the pinnacle of domestic tennis.
Representing China in the White House Cup junior competition, she was undaunted in the face of many unfamiliar foreign players, and won the international championship with her own strength, becoming the best women's tennis player in Asia.
At that time, Hu Na was a rising star in Chinese sports, and she was the hope of all Chinese.
She has the expectations of countless viewers, who hope that she can win glory for the country.
However, no one thought that this game of glory for the country would become the fuse for Hu Na to leave the national team.
When Hu Na traveled to the United States to compete, she was fascinated by the city. At that time, China's sports industry was just starting, and professional events and competition scenes were not as developed as abroad.
Moreover, there was no tennis event in the Olympics at that time, which made Hu Na always regret it.
As soon as she arrived in the United States, Hu Na found that the athletes here were dressed in bright and gorgeous costumes, and there were constant cheers from the audience, all of which made her feel a huge sense of yearning.
However, Hu Na also realized that she represented the glory of the country, so she was only in admiration.
However, as soon as she returned to China, Hu Na resumed her previous training, but she was still dissatisfied with the day-to-day training.
Due to the scarcity of domestic competitions and the large number of athletes, they need to train for a year or two before they have the opportunity to compete once or twice. In such an environment, Hu Na's mood became more and more restless.
In 1982, the Confederations Cup was held in the United States again, and Hu Na, the top player of the Chinese national team, was naturally selected by the coaches to represent the country again.
She scored her first victory in the contest, defeating the Japanese on her own, prompting cheers and excitement from many domestic crowds.
Everyone agreed that as long as Hu Na was present, the Chinese team would definitely win the medal in this competition. Even the coaches are starting to fantasize about the next wins and championships.
However, to everyone's surprise, when the next day's competition was about to start, Hu Na mysteriously disappeared.
The disappearance of the athlete was no small matter, and the rest of the national team and the coaching staff were so anxious that they decided to abandon the game and work together to find Hu Na.
They reported the incident to the Chinese Embassy in the United States and searched the streets and alleys of the area, but never found any clues.
Just when they were helpless, they suddenly received a call from a lawyer who claimed to be Hu Na.
The lawyer said in ** that Hu Na had filed a request for political asylum with the U.S. Embassy, refused to continue competing on behalf of China, and announced that she was going to the United States.
All the members of the Chinese team were shocked by this sudden news, and they were angry and confused, because yesterday he was still winning glory for his country, but today he suddenly left and threw himself into the enemy.
Hu Na's move has confused everyone, as the Chinese team has always been based on Hu Na's customized core tactics. Now, they can only give up the next games, return home early, and become an international laughing stock.
After investigation, it turned out that the U.S. team had been eyeing Hu Na for a long time, and even frequently asked the Chinese team to send Hu Na and other outstanding athletes to the United States for training on the grounds of exchanging experience.
The Chinese team has always refused such requests, so they have turned their attention to the rising star tennis queen.
Hu Na had this plan in the first place, and as soon as she received the invitation from the United States, she immediately decided to defect.
Her defection not only had an impact on the Chinese team, but also on her former teammates and coaches.
Li Xinyi's teammates who lived with her were not only disqualified from the Asian Games that year, but also expelled from the national team for this, and will no longer work in tennis-related industries in the future.
The reason why Hu Na fled was simple, she couldn't have left on a whim. As a roommate, Li Xinyi should have noticed some abnormalities but did not report them in time, so he would naturally be punished.
Li Xinyi didn't dare to comment more, because Hu Na was the leader of the national team at that time.
Hu Na's coach, Chen Jianqiu, suffered the same misfortune, not only was he fired from the national team, but he also endured the blame for the rest of his life and could not find any job opportunities.
It wasn't until years later that he was hired as a coach by an amateur team.
To this day, those who were severely affected by Hu Na still do not hear her apology.
Fight for the United States
Hu Na soon received a green card in the United States and successfully joined the United States team, starting to represent the United States in competitions.
After Hu Na left China, she found that her new teammates were on par with her, and she could no longer claim to be at the top.
Hu Na was unable to compete in her first year in the United States because she did not have American citizenship, so she could only train silently behind the scenes, waiting for her opportunity.
After leaving her hometown, she was like a meteor that lost its burning power. In 1985, Hu Na was eliminated in the U.S. after only reaching the third round.
Her best result in the USA is her best to date.
Her injury has worsened again, and in order to ** as soon as possible, she must take a break from the field and rest and recuperate.
However, she was not willing to give up. At this time, she has not yet had a chance to prove her full strength, nor has she yet proved the correctness of her choice to defect.
She felt unwilling to leave the arena and did not dare to give up easily, so she always insisted on accepting conservatism and refused to withdraw from the competition.
Hu Na suffered a lot of injuries in 1992 and could no longer keep up with the pace of the game, so she reluctantly announced her retirement.
After retiring, Hu Na did not achieve outstanding results in the United States, so she was not hired by the tennis team and had to find another way.
She realized at the time that she might not be welcomed when she returned home, so she chose to stay in the United States to further her studies. During her five-year career, she studied for a degree in economics and management and obtained a coaching certificate before she began to think about returning to China.
She first came to Taiwan and accepted a coaching position at a tennis club.
She soon became dissatisfied with the job's meagre income, but now she realizes that the job has become the best ending for her.
Hu Na felt that a long time had passed, and no one cared about her original affairs, so she began to think about returning to China to seek wealth.
She had been studying painting for several years, and then brought her work to Beijing to prepare for an exhibition.
She thought she was wrong, and many people still remember her defection, so her art exhibitions sold poorly. She hoped to use her painting skills to gain recognition from others again, but this wish was completely unsuccessful.
She repeatedly apologized to **, but she was never able to restore her reputation. In order to rebuild her reputation, she had to apologize to ** many times, but to no avail.
Although she often holds exhibitions, people avoid her name when she is mentioned these days.
She had been away from China for many years and had never contacted her family, so when she returned to China, her parents could not forgive her for their choice.
Hu Na, now in her old age, can only rely on paintings that no one cares about to survive.
At one time, Hu Na was a symbol of pride for the people of the whole country and a leader in Asian women's tennis. However, in the blink of an eye, she became a traitor to the nation.
Hu Na's brilliant tennis career has come to an end, and her legendary story has become a low point in the history of Chinese tennis.
Therefore, to this day, her past actions have not been forgiven, and all her behavior by the audience cannot arouse affection.