IN BRIEF (Page 22)
Soccer
All-star game held ahead of World Cup draw ceremony
Local organizers of the FIFA Women's World Cup will stage an all-star match on the eve of Sunday's draw in Wuhan, central China's Hubei province, featuring the Chinese women's national team and a FIFA Women's World Stars team.
The match will kick off at the Wuhan Sports Center Stadium, where four first-round matches and two quarterfinals of the World Cup China 2007 will also be played.
The star-studded world team will be put through their paces by current England coach Hope Powell and the former coach of Germany, Tina Theune-Meyer, who led Germany to FIFA World Cup glory in 2003.
Zheng wins Charlton player of month award
China international midfielder Zheng Zhi has been named Charlton Athletic's player of March after gaining 94 percent of 1,520 fan votes.
Following his loan move to the relegation-threatened Premier League club in January, Zheng has helped increase the team's survival chances by helping his team beat Newcastle and Wigan in two successive games.
Zheng was voted man of the match in both games.
After losing to Everton 1-2 at the weekend, Charlton have 32 points and rank 18th in the table, two points behind Sheffield United. This weekend the two sides meet in a crucial relegation dogfight.
Ice hockey
Estonia beat China 5-4 at IIHF World Championship
Estonia beat China 5-4 to grab its second victory out of three at the IIHF (International Ice Hockey Federation) World Championship Division I Group A tournament on Wednesday.
Estonia had defeated France in its opener so it seemed there was no problem downing China, who had conceded 21 goals and scored just once in the tournament before then.
It was all going to plan for the Estonians when they scored four goals in the first 16 minutes to take a 4-1 lead. But China then came back in the second period, with Zhang Weiyang scoring twice and Liu Henan equalizing with a fine solo effort.
China went all out for a shock win but left themselves exposed in defense, allowing Maskim Ivanov to score the decisive goal.
China lost all three previous games and is facing relegation to Division II unless their form improves in the final three games of the round-robin tournament in Qiqihar, Heilongjiang.
(China Daily 04/20/2007 page22)
