On Tuesday, Alex Ovechkin continued his diplomatic duties as the NHL’s ambassador to China by sitting down with a young fan who had traveled over 600 miles from Shanghai to Beijing to meet Ovechkin.
Ten-year-old William Ye taught Ovechkin how to write his Chinese name, 奥八爷 (Ào bā yé), and explained to the Capitals captain what his name means. Ovechkin learned that his Chinese name contains the word for eight, which is definitely appropriate for the Great Eight.
Video
In the video, William tells Ovechkin that the first part of Ovechkin’s Chinese name is “O” for Ovechkin, then second part is the number eight. He struggles a bit with the third part, but says it means that the Chinese people like Ovechkin.
Ovechkin dutifully takes notes underneath each Chinese character, writing “Ovechkin”, “8”, and finally drawing a heart.
The two also joined heads to play a hockey video game together on a phone.
Today they played video games together! pic.twitter.com/zO5iLTRFM7
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) August 6, 2019
William also gave Ovechkin a box containing a silk-embroidered fan and a note that read, “Dear Alex, I’m your big fan. Have a nice trip in China! Yours, William Ye.”
Photo: Capitals
William appears to have been one of the fans that greeted Ovechkin at the Beijing airport when the Capitals captain first arrived in China. Included with the note was a photo of the two of them together, with Ovi wearing the same outfit he’d been wearing at the airport.
The ten-year-old William plays hockey, and according to the Capitals, plays on the left-wing just like Ovechkin.
In press conference last week, Ovechkin said he was happy to be an ambassador for hockey in China.
“I am glad I have this opportunity to be an Ambassador there, representing both the KHL and NHL,” Ovechkin said, as reported by Sport24.ru and translated by Igor Kleyner. “We will have practice sessions and master classes. Everybody knows how many Chinese there are in the world, maybe they’ll have the next Wayne Gretzky!”
Headline photo: @Capitals
