IN BRIEF (Page 22)
ROWING
China poised for glory at rowing worlds
MUNICH: Five Chinese rowing crews advanced to the next round of the Munich World Rowing Championships on Monday, backing up stunning performances at recent World Cup events.
China pulled out two first and three second-place finishes in the day's heats.
The crew of Tang Bin, Xi Aihua, Jin Ziwei and Feng Guixin earned a final berth in the women's IV sculls two months after winning gold at the Amsterdam World Cup event in June.
The star scullers stole the lead from the Ukraine early in the race and never looked back.
In the women's lightweight double sculls the crew of Xu Dongxiang and Chen Haixia squeezed into the semifinals behind the Finnish crew.
Xu is the reigning champion after being crowned last year at the Eton championships, while crewmate Chen has won two golds at world cup events this year.
China's single sculls national champion Zhang Guolin paired up with Sun Jie to take second in their heat and secure a spot in the men's lightweight double sculls quarterfinal.
China's men's first XIII earned a place in the semifinals, backing up the form it showed to win silver at the Amsterdam World Cup.
YACHTING
Music and art to liven up China Cup
The China Cup International Yachting Regatta will introduce music and an art show to keep spectators and crews entertained this year.
Organizers said the China Cup CROCS Sails Music Festival and the "F!F!" Art Space Exhibition would be staged in conjunction with the yacht race on Daya Bay in Shenzhen in October.
Meanwhile, entries for the China Cup have been flooding in with all berths in the one-design Beneteau First 40.7 yachts already taken up.
Team China, which finished last in the American Cup challenge earlier this year, has expressed interest in taking part in addition to sailors from New Zealand, South Korea and Shenzhen.
Organizers say by October about 100 yachts from a dozen countries and regions will set their sails in Daya Bay for China's first large-scale international yacht race.
Among them will be crews from the United States, France, Australia, Singapore, South Korea, Britain, Japan, Brazil, the United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, Macao and the Chinese mainland.
(China Daily 08/29/2007 page22)
