IN BRIEF (Page 22)
Badminton
Chengdu continues to host China Masters
The 2007 Aviva-Cofco China Masters badminton championships will be held in Chengdu of Sichuan Province in July.
The event, from July 11 to 15, is one of the 12 Super Series tournament by the International Badminton Federation (IBF) offering a total prize money of $250,000. The Super Series event is only next to the Olympic Games, the mixed team Sudirman Cup, the Thomas Cup (men's team), the Uber Cup (women's team and the world championships.
As one of the Olympic ranking points competition, the event is expected to attract world's top players for the men's and women's singles, men's and women's doubles and the mixed doubles.
The event has been beld in Beijing in 2005 and in Chengdu last year. Dark horses Chen Jin and Wang Ling, both of China, won the men's and women's singles last year. Chen is now ranked third in the world.
Soccer
Campaign for grassroots development launched
As the global sponsor of FIFA, world soccer's governing body, Sony is making efforts to develop the grassroots sport in China by launching the "Sony Football Fun Park" recently.
From late this month, the campaign will take place in Wuhan, Shanghai, Tianjin, Chengdu and Hangzhou, the five host cities of the FIFA 2007 Women's World Cup, featuring 24 U-13 teams to compete in a grade schools league.
The best players and cheer leaders from the competitions will be selected as the flag bearers for the World Cup, taking place in September.
Sony Corporation has signed a global partnership program contract with FIFA. The contract will run from 2007 to 2014 with a value of $305 million.
Miscellaneous
China hosts lightplane competition
The 2007 China Lightplace Yearly Tournament, hosted by the China Aero Sports Federation of China under the State General Administration of Sports and the Zhuhai Fengzhiyou Aero Club Co Ltd, will be held in October.
The event will feature 10 corporate-sponsored lightplanes - the BAW-2 ULC planes, starting in Zhuhai and passing by Guangdong, Hunan, Hubei, Henan and Hebei provinces. The destination of the route, totalling over 2,000 kilometres, is set for Baoding of Hebei Province.
Meanwhile a selection of 10 co-pilots, only for girls aged between 18 to 25 will be held in five cities that the competition passes by, namely Guangzhou, Changsha, Wuhan, Zhengzhou and Baoding.
(China Daily 04/27/2007 page22)
