Tian Jia

Tian Jia
Olympic Games 2008
portrait
birthday	February 9, 1981
place of birth	Beijing , China
partner	1998 Zhou Suhong 1999 Han Bo 2000 Zhang Jingkun 2001-2005 Wang Fei 2006-2008 Wang Jie0000 0000 0000
successes
2002 - Asian Champion 2005 - 3rd World Cup 2006 - 3rd Asian Cup 2007 - Vice World Champion 2008 - 2nd Olympic Games
(As of March 2, 2011)

Tian Jia ( Chinese  田 佳 , Pinyin Tián Jiā ; born February 9, 1981 in Beijing , People's Republic of China ) is a former Chinese beach volleyball player .

Career

In 1993, Tian Jia began her career in her hometown Tianjin Sports School . In 1998 the Chinese competed in the FIVB World Tour for the first time with Zhou Suhong ( Chinese  周苏红 ). Both with her and in the following year with Han Bo, Tian came in 25th place as the best result in three tournaments. With her new partner Zhang Jingkun ( Chinese  张静坤 ) she achieved her first top ten placements in 2000. The two Asians were able to improve their ninth place in Berlin at the tournament in their home country. They finished seventh in Dalian.

At the beginning of 2001, Tian Jia started the World Tour with her fourth partner. With Wang Fei ( Chinese  王菲 ) the player from Beijing won the Chinese championships in 2001 and the Asian championships in 2002. The two Chinese women achieved their first victories at the FIVB Tour in 2003 at the Bali Open in Indonesia and the subsequent Italian Open in Milan. In 2004 Tian / Wang took fourth place only once and at the Olympic Games in Athens they were eliminated in the round of 16 against the later Olympic champions Walsh  /  May . In the following year, however, they came to their greatest mutual success. After the silver medal in Gstaad, the two won the bronze medal at the World Championships in Berlin . After losing in the semi-finals to eventual world champions Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor , the Asians defeated Cubans Dalixia Fernandez Grasset and Tamara Larrea Peraza in the game for third place. At the subsequent tournament in Stavanger and at the events in Paris and Klagenfurt, Tian Jia / Wang Fei also achieved third places.

The most successful period in Tian Jia's career began in 2006 when he worked with Wang Jie . Two victories in Warsaw and Klagenfurt, second places in Shanghai and Phuket as well as bronze medals in Modena, Gstaad, Montréal and Porto Santo made up the balance of this year. There was also a third place at the Asian Championships. The two Chinese women started the following season with a win in their home country in Shanghai. Second places followed in Sentosa, Seoul, Paris and Stavanger and third places in Berlin and Marseille. At the World Championships in Gstaad , Tian Jia and her partner lost to Walsh / May-Treanor as in 2005, but this time only in the final. After winning the silver medal, the Asian women finished third in Norway and Thailand in the same year, came second in Finland and won the FIVB Challenger & Satellite tournament in Hong Kong at the end of the year. In 2008 Tian / Wang took silver in three tournaments (Osaka, Berlin and Gstaad), in Moscow they came third. However, the Olympic Games in their home country were both the climax and conclusion of their joint careers . The two beach volleyball players reached the final in Beijing, but were again defeated by Walsh and May-Treanor and won the silver medal.

At the end of the 2008 tour and her career, Tian Jia competed again with her partner from 2001 to 2005. With Wang Fei she reached the thirteenth rank in Sanya.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://www.fivb.org/en/beachvolleyball/PlayerBios/Player_DataDB.asp?No=102166

Web links

• Profile in the Beach Volleyball Database (English)
• Tian Jia in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )

Note: This article places the family name before the person's first name. This is the usual order in Chinese. Tian is the family name here, Jia is the first name.