IN BRIEF (Page 22)

CLIMBING

China to host Asian climbing tournament

The third Asian Rock Climbing Tournament will be held on November 5 and 6 in Tianmenshan National Park in Zhangjiajie, Hunan Province.

Countries and regions taking part include the Republic of Korea, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Hong Kong SAR, Macao SAR, Taiwan and the Chinese mainland.

Competition categories include the men's and women's speed and men's and women's difficulty.

The top eight in each of four categories will be awarded prizes.

The event, organized by the Asian Competitive Climbing Committee, the China Mountaineering Association, the Zhangjiajie People's Government and the Hunan Trust and Investment Co, is the second of its kind in China after Kunming hosted the event in 2001.

The sport of climbing is developing fast in Europe and the United States, while Japan and the Republic of Korea lead the way in Asia.

BASKETBALL

Yao to be the ambassador of insurance company

Chinese NBA all star Yao Ming signed with China Life Insurance Company to be its global ambassador on Tuesday.

Although commercially contracted to China Life, Yao said he was drawn to it by its good reputation as a patron of charities.

"China life has donated much to the social welfare, so cooperating with them will be a good learning opportunity for me," said Yao.

China Life signed with Yao and renowned Chinese director Feng Xiaogang for an upcoming TV advertisement.

WINTER SPORTS

TV to help promote cool-weather games in China

State sports channel CCTV 5 will help promote China's winter sport events in the next eight years after signing a contract with the Chinese Winter Sports Administrative Center on Wednesday.

According to the agreement, CCTV 5 will make programs on 19 winter sports events under the administrative center, including figure skating, freestyle skiing and curling, as well as China's winter sports stars figure skating world champion Shen Xue/Zhao Hongbo, Pang Qing/Tong Jian and winter Olympic gold medalists Wang Meng and Han Xiaopeng.

It will also broadcast more winter sports competitions, such as the Short Track Speed Skating World Cup and Free Style Skiing Aerials World Cup.

(China Daily 09/25/2007 page22)