BEIJING, June 29 (Xinhua) – Former female midfielder Paris Saint-Germain Wang Shuang said on Monday that she could avoid getting stuck in Wuhan as an official had called her leaving hours before the city was closed.
The 25-year-old director, who last week expressed her willingness to share some stories about the 76 days Wuhan remained closed, said she didn’t expect her misery to last that long.
“On the morning of the day the city was to be locked, at four or five, an official called me on the phone and urged me to get up and leave,” he said.
“Then I felt helpless. Where should I have gone because I had no relatives outside Wuhan? Could I have led a nomadic life in the car?” said the player.
“Now looking back, I realized it was the beginning of Wuhan’s battle against the virus,” he said.
Wang was training with the Chinese women’s team in Wuhan in January to prepare for the Tokyo Olympic qualifiers originally scheduled to take place in the capital of Hubei province.
“We just got back from a month’s training in Australia, I was in good shape and I was excited about the prospect of playing at home,” said the Wuhan native.
“But the virus outbreak was getting worse and on January 18th and 19th, when we trained, we felt like we couldn’t breathe. We were afraid,” he said.
The Chinese team stopped training on January 20 and released its players for the upcoming Chinese Spring Festival.
Wang and the other two teammates stayed in Wuhan, and three days later, the city was locked up to stop the virus from spreading.
They left the city to join the Chinese national side on April 8, when the blockade was lifted.
Making his international debut in 2013, Wang went on to win 104 appearances and score 28 goals for the Chinese national team. She returned to China in July last year after spending a year in the French capital with PSG.
During his spell in Paris, Wang scored eight goals and made seven assists in 27 games. Enditem
