IN BRIEF (Page 22)
Volleyball
China make it into semis in Switzerland
China's national women's volleyball team won a one-sided match on Wednesday at Montreux Volley Masters 2007 in Switzerland, beating Poland in straight sets to ensure a semifinal berth ahead of their last Pool B match against Cuba.
The 2004 Olympic gold medalists, who eased past Turkey 3-1 in Tuesday's opener, took the successively second victory 25-23, 25-13, 25-12 over the former European champions.
China showed overwhelming power on serve and block with little challenge from Poland.
Poland was seen as a dark horse but things turned out to be dismal as some key players were missing due to injury and club competitions.
Other matches on the day saw the Netherlands rallying past Germany 3-2 and Russia losing to Serbia 3-1 in Pool A.
The tournament, which organizers say is growing in popularity, features 8 teams this year, although former world champions Italy and runners-up the United States are missing.
Macao hosts FIVB Grand Prix in August
GUANGZHOU: China's national women's volleyball team will compete with counterparts from Cuba, Netherlands and the United States in the Macau Galaxy Entertainment FIVB World Grand Prix, which will be held in Macao on August 17-19.
The event, which is co-sponsored by Macao Sport Development Board and the Volleyball Association of Macao, will be the third stop for this year's World Grand Prix.
Miscellaneous
Asian Indoor Games gets internet sponsor
The Organizing Committee for the 2nd Asian Indoor Games (MAIGOC) and the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) has signed a sponsorship agreement with Chinese's leading online media company SINA Corporation as the Official Sponsor and Internet Sponsor for Macau 2007. Under the agreement, SINA wins the exclusive rights to host, develop and operate the Official Games website.
With 230 million registered users worldwide and a record 500 million daily page views, the partnership will provide MAIGOC with the most comprehensive reach. In addition to website production, development and operations of the official Games website, SINA will also provide technical support, web design, advertising platform, web hosting, flow statistics, back-end system and related technical services.
Organized biannually, the second edition of the Asian Indoor Games will be hosted in Macao China, commencing from October 26 to November 3, consisting of 17 competing sports and 2 demonstration sports, with expected NOC participation from 45 countries throughout all regions of Asia.
(China Daily 06/08/2007 page22)
