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China star Li Ying, who came out as lesbian in June, back in the national football squad for the Asian Cup
- Li Ying, who set the 2018 AFC Women’s Asian Cup ablaze with a tournament-best seven goals, returns for 2022 Women’s Asian Cup training squad
- She became the country’s first openly gay athlete in June this year after celebrating a first-year anniversary to girlfriend Chen Leilei – a move that sparked intense media interest
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Li Ying, China’s first openly gay athlete, will form part of a 34-player training squad selected ahead of next year’s Women’s Asian Cup in India.
Li became the country’s first openly gay athlete in June this year after celebrating her first-year anniversary with girlfriend Chen Leilei – a move that sparked intense media interest.
The 28-year-old rose to fame during the 2018 AFC Asian Cup where she fired her way to the golden boot with seven goals in five games, including the winner against South Africa at the Fifa Women’s World Cup a year later.
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While many praised Li for coming out so openly, she was also inundated with homophobic comments and soon deleted the post, leading many to ask if she was under pressure from authorities.
The Shandong player has appeared more than 100 times for China but has not played since the Tokyo 2020 qualifiers in Australia in February last year, missing out on the play-offs for the Olympics against South Korea.
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But after a disappointing result at the Tokyo Games, which ended with a crushing 8-2 loss to the Netherlands, newly appointed head coach Shui Qingxia is shaking things up. Only 11 players from the Tokyo Olympic team have been selected for the month-long training camp, the most notable being Olympic players Wang Shuang, Wu Haiyan and Wang Shanshan.
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