IN BRIEF (Page 19)
Golf
Top golfer Liang stretches lead in Asia's Order of Merit
China's Liang Wenchong has stretched his lead in the Asian Tour's UBS Order of Merit race thanks to a sixth-place finish at the Iskandar Johor Open on Sunday.
Liang's eighth top-10 of the year, which includes a maiden title in Singapore, saw him increase his season's earnings to $448,422, opening up a gap of more than $20,000 on second-placed Anton Haig of South Africa.
The tenacious Chinese star challenged for the title in Johor before finishing three shots behind winner Artemio Murakami of the Philippines and is now looking forward to upcoming events, including this week's Brunei Open.
"It's still been a good week especially after a good final round (where he shot the day's best of five-under-par 66)," Liang, who is bidding to become the first Chinese winner of the prestigious Order of Merit, said.
Miscellaneous
Beijing to host mixed martial arts championships
The inaugural World Full Contact Championship or the world mixed martial arts championships will be held in Beijing in December after the Beijing People's Government and the Beijing Sports Bureau gave the event the go ahead.
The event, organized by the Beijing Win-Win Sports Agency Co, the US Crossover Management Inc and the Beijing Baidui Sports and Cultural Exchange Center, will pit six foreign fighters from the United States, Japan, South Korea, Australia and Mexico against six Chinese martial artists or kungfu fighters.
Organizers said the event was the largest and highest level of its kind in the Asia Pacific at a press conference attended by full contact world grand master Rollin Kwon.
Thousands of poker hands bluff and fold in comp
More than 10,000 Beijing citizens in more than 500 communities have taken part in the Second Yaoji Poker Cup Beijing Poker Competition in the past month.
Players are currently fighting for places in the year-ending grand final at the Beijing Grand View Garden Hotel. The event was organized by the Beijing Sports Press Association, the Beijing Social Sports Administration Center and the Shanghai Yaoji Poker Co Ltd, and title-sponsored by the Shanghai Yaoji Poker Co Ltd, which is also the title sponsor of five national women's soccer tournaments.
China's former world No 1 women's chess player Xie Jun will be chief umpire.
VOLLEYBALL
Chinese spikers aims for gold in Asian Championships
China men's volleyball team left for Jakarta yesterday for the Asian Championships.
The team is struggling to recover from the recent loss of star player Tang Miao who was paralyzed after a horrible fall during the training session in June.
However head coach Zhou Jian'an said a gold medal was already in sight.
"Our determination to win the gold medal never changed," Zhou said. "However I tell my players to forget about winning the gold medal and have some fun in the game."
Seventeen teams will take part in the tournament which also serves as the qualifer for next year's World Cup and Asian qualifier for the 2008 Olympic volleyball competition.
China settled for a silver after losing to South Korea in the final at the previous championships held in Tianjin.
(China Daily 08/31/2007 page19)
