IN BRIEF (Page 23)

GOLF

Zhang defends Guangzhou Championship title

GUANGZHOU: Zhang Lianwei successfully defended his $100,000 Guangzhou Championship title by holding off talented Taiwan duo Chan Yihshin and Hsu Mongnan, both impressive in their debut appearance on the China Tour.

"I was always confident. Even if I compete against the No 1 player in the world, I believe in myself and play my game," said Zhang, who won $21,000.

"I really hope the younger generation of Chinese golfers can have a similar attitude when they take to the course. The main competition in golf is yourself, so you should always be confident," he added.

SOCCER

Registration open for May Day 5-on-5 soccer tournament

The 2008 Umbro Cup Beijing 5-on-5 Soccer Tournament will be held during the May Day holiday at the Beijing Tiantan Stadium.

The event, organized by the Beijing Football Association, Tianyun Sports (Shenzhen) Goods Co Ltd and the Beijing Ruizhixiangyun Advertising Co Ltd, will attract hundreds of teams to compete in middle- and senior-high school groups, an open group, and a media group.

The Umbro Cup kicked off in 2003 and has since grown into the biggest 5-on-5 soccer tournament in Beijing.

The winning team in the open group will represent Beijing in the national 5-on-5 finals.

For registration, players can call 65511489, 65302193, 65953612 or log on to blog.sina.com.cn/umbro5vs5

OLYMPICS

Book of Seals created for Chinese Olympic champions

The Book of Seals for Chinese Olympic Champions was launched last week in Beijing.

The book, supervised by the Chinese Olympic Committee and published by the Communist Party Committee of Wuxi and the Wuxi Municipal government, contains 133 seals of China's Summer and Winter Olympic champions created by famous sculptor Wang Benxing. Every seal also matches with the picture of each athlete and includes a brief introduction in Chinese and English.

The books will be presented to the Olympic champions, the International Olympic Committee, the Chinese Olympic Committee and the participating delegations of the Beijing Olympic Games.

One hundred and thirty-three athletes have won a total of 116 gold medals in the six Summer and eight Winter Olympic Games since 1984.

(China Daily 03/18/2008 page23)