Goalkeeper admits to using drugs

Former Chinese international goalkeeper Jiang Hong has admitted taking illegal drugs during his career, saying his addiction to the potent stimulant methamphetamine nearly ruined his life.

Jiang, 40, whose brother, Jiang Jin, also played in goal for the Chinese national side, said that he only gave up drugs in August after realizing how close he was to wrecking his health and his happiness.

"I realized the great harm that the drug was doing to me," he wrote on his Internet blog. "So I decided once and for all to rid myself of this devil."

Jiang quit football two years ago after his club Shaanxi Guoli was kicked out of the league for failing to pay players' salaries. At the time, the club publicly accused the goalie of taking drugs.

Jiang, who played for several top Chinese clubs and also appeared in the national squad during the 1990s, now runs a bar in the northern city of Xian, and said he hoped by coming clean he would deter others from using drugs.

"I have not been involved in drugs for a while, so if this helps anyone else to straighten out then I guess it is a good thing," the former international was quoted as saying in the Beijing Youth Daily.

Jiang is not the only Chinese footballer linked to drug use.

Earlier this year, Liu Yunfei, another international goalkeeper, was arrested in Shanghai for allegedly using illegal drugs.

AFP

(China Daily 12/20/2007 page22)