Lin Dan is the only badminton player to win three consecutive World Championship titles from 2006-2009. Badminton is a very popular sport in China, where many players have found international success. Baseball was introduced to China in 1864 but was banned under Mao from 1959-1974 when the sport was restarted. Table tennis involves hitting a ball back and forth using paddles on a divided table. Points occur when a player fails to return the ball properly.

3. Lin Dan is the only player in badminton history to have
won three consecutive titles at the World
Championships (2006, 2007 and2009).
Because of its relative simplicity, inexpensive equipment,
and accessibility to venues, badminton is a very
established and popular sport in China. Many Chinese
badminton players have gained international success
and fame, especially the many Gold medalists at the
BWF World Championships. It's a popular recreational
sport, and amateur leagues exist across the country.

4. Baseball was first introduced in 1864 with the
establishment of the Shanghai Baseball Club by
American medical missionary Henry William
Boone. Organized baseball games were established
with a game between the St. Johns University and
the Shanghai MCA baseball club in 1905. However, in
1959 Mao Zedong disbanded all teams and outlawed
baseball. After the Cultural Revolution ended, baseball
activities restarted, and the China Baseball
Association formed in 1974. In 2002, the China Baseball
League was formed, and China participates in the World
Baseball Classic. Defeats of the national team
to Republic of China, Japan, and South Korea may help
change the trend as Chinese become more aware of the
game's internationalization.

5. Table tennis or ping-pong is a sport in which two or
four players hit a lightweight ball back and forth using
a table tennis racket. The game takes place on a
hard table divided by a net. Except for the initial
serve, players must allow a ball played toward them
only one bounce on their side of the table and must
return it so that it bounces on the opposite side.
Points are scored when a player fails to return the
ball within the rules. Play is fast and demands quick
reactions. Spinning the ball alters its trajectory and
limits an opponent's options, giving the hitter a great
advantage. When doing so the hitter has a good
chance of scoring if the spin is successful.

6. Li Na is the first player fromChina and Asia to
win a Grand Slam title.
Tennis is a growing recreational sport in
China, although access to tennis courts can be
limited in densely populated urban areas.
Recently Chinese tennis players, especially
women, have seen success internationally
both at the amateur level and professionally.
International tennis tournaments receive
wide coverage on Chinese sporting channels.

7. Ding Junhui is the first Chinese snooker player to win
a ranking tournament and the Masters.
Although pool or, more specifically, billiards, has long been a
popular street recreation sport in China, snooker's popularity
has increased over the last few years in China. It can partly be
attributed to the ascension of young Chinese player Ding
Junhui who has since broken into the international Top 16. More
and more young Chinese players are breaking onto the
professional circuit such as Liang Wenbo and Liu Chuang who
both qualified for the last 32 of the 2008 World Snooker
Championship, with Liang going on to reach the quarter-finals
where he faced a snooker legend Ronnie O'Sullivan. Snooker is
played by an estimated 50 million Chinese people, and there are
now over 300 snooker clubs in Beijing alone. Some believe that
China should host more tournament events, and one day may
even host the World Snooker Championship itself.

9. The France national handball team is the current double
reigning Olympic Champion and European champion. The team
also won the World Championships in 1995, 2001, 2009,
and World, and the European Championships in 2006 and 2010.
Men's national professional competitions are supervised by
the Ligue nationale de handball with the top division being
the Championnat de France de handball. Montpellier
Agglomération Handball is the most successful team in French first
division history with 13 titles from 1995 to 2011. The team is also
the only French team to have won the EHF Champions
League in 2003.
The France women's national handball team won the 2003 World
Women's Handball Championship.
Women's main national professional competition is
the Championnat de France de handball féminin. Metz Handball is
the most successful team in French first division history with 17
titles from 1989 to 2011. No French team has reached the semi-
finals at the EHF Women's Champions League so far.

10. Rugby union (rugby à 15 or jeu à 15) was first
introduced in the early 1870s by British residents. While
football is much more popular nationally, rugby union is
predominant in the southern half of the country,
especially around Toulouse, the French Basque
country andCatalonia. Elite French clubs participate in
the domestic club competition - the Top 14. Clubs also
compete in the European knock-out competition,
the Heineken Cup. It is the seventh largest French team
sport in the terms of licensed players with 457,018
licensed players (2012).
The national side is one of the tier 1 national teams. It
competes annually in the Six Nations Championship,
and won it outright 16 times. France has been to
every Rugby World Cup since its inception in 1987, and
has been a runner-up on three occasions. France
hosted the 2007 Rugby World Cup.

11. Ice hockey is a fairly popular sport in France,
especially in the Rhône-Alpes region and in the
cities of Rouen, Amiens and Tours. The governing
body is the FFHG which administeres the national
championship, Ligue Magnus (founded in 1907).
The national team is currently ranked in the top
20 in the IIHF World Ranking. In recent years
numerous French ice hockey players have made
the NHL, the premier ice hockey competition on
the planet based in the United
States and Canada including Stanley
Cup winner Cristobal Huet and Dallas
Stars forward Antoine Roussel.

12. France holds the tennis Grand Slam
tournament Roland Garros. France's
current stars include Richard
Gasquet, Gaël Monfils, Jo-Wilfried
Tsonga, Gilles Simon, Alize
CornetAravane Rezaï. Other stars from
the past include Yannick Noah (father of
Joakim Noah), Guy Forget, Henri
Leconte, Amélie Mauresmo, Mary
Pierce and Marion Bartoli.

13. Developed in France, parkour ("art du déplacement")
is a physical activity that is difficult to categorize. It is
an art that resembles self-defense and martial arts.
According to the founder David Belle, the spirit of
parkour is guided in part by the notions of "escape"
and "reach," that is, the idea of using quick thinking
with dexterity to get out of difficult situations.
An important characteristic of parkour is efficiency.
The basic meaning of this is that a traceur must not
merely move as fast as he can, Bur's unofficial motto
is être et durer (to be and to last), efficiency also
involves avoiding injuries, short and long-term.