CHINA - "Please! Don't call me a soccer babe anymore," shouted
Liu Wenwen, who was crowned the prettiest football babe in China
during a beauty contest sponsored by CCTV. The stunner, who is
featured in hundreds of Internet photos, is known as a beautiful
woman capable of heating up an audience with her mini-skirts and
attractive face.
But Liu is hoping people will concentrate on her football
knowledge and not her physical charm.
Liu, 27, traveled to Beijing from Wuhan in 2006. She has been
developing a love of sports since she was a 15-year-old middle
school student.
During the 1998 World Cup, Liu was a huge fan of the talented
Italian footballer Roberto Baggio and saved every cent of her
pocket money to purchase products related to him.
She even picked up her pen and started to draw pictures of
football players.
Since then, she has drawn pictures of several football players,
including David Beckham, Batistuta and lots of Roberto Baggio.
Liu mailed one of her pictures to Baggio in 1998 and, after
several months, she got Baggio's reply.
"I mailed a caricature of Baggio to him and expressed my
feelings about him in my letter," Liu said, "I did not expect his
reply, after all he is so far away, so I was so excited to receive
it."
Baggio's reply was written in Italian and Liu said that she kept
the letter for 12 years before she knew what he had written.
Recently, Liu attended a TV program and the host organized for the
letter to be translated.
"He thanked me for supporting him and said he would play harder
on the field, but when I knew this, he had already retired from the
field for six years," Liu said.
Over the years, Liu has dug more deeply into football.
She spent 20,000 yuan (S$4,132) to go to South Africa for 10
days from June 4 to June 14 to watch the first match of the 2010
World Cup. She said it was her dream to watch such a match and was
moved by the action on the field.
"I almost wanted to cry because my dream had finally came true
and people around me cheered emotionally for the team they
supported," Liu said.
Liu said she refused earplugs, which were offered to fans free
of charge to protect their ears from the noise of the horns that
reverberated throughout the stadium.
After the trip, Liu announced that she no longer wants to be
known as a soccer babe and said she will not pose for any more sexy
photos.
"Most soccer babes in China are not qualified and they do not
love the game. Many do not even know the basic rules and spirit of
the sport," Liu said. "I am different from them because I am really
a football fan."
Liu said most soccer babes in China take the title as a platform
to develop their modeling careers.
Although she works as a model and poses for magazine photos, Liu
insisted that she now wants to be described as a freelancer because
of articles she has written during the World Cup in a newspaper and
for a website.
Liu said she depends on her income from writing to support her life in Beijing. She added that
her first book is now being edited.
"It is fortunate that I can work on my favorite things, writing
and football," Liu said.
As a young woman, Liu said frankly, her favorite team was Italy
because it had so many handsome players. She says she now likes
many other European teams, including Spain and the Netherlands,
which she supports because of their teamwork.
"I would like to see the Spanish team become champions," she
said, "I believe in their capability and we need a new world
champion."