IN BRIEF (Page 23)

Soccer

Petrovic praises Changchun Yatai

CHANGCHUN, Jilin province: Vladimir Petrovic, head coach of the Chinese national soccer team, spoke highly of Changchun Yatai after the league champion beat South Korea's Pohang Steelers 1-0 in the group E match of the Asian Champions League yesterday, the first time Yatai had beaten a Korean club in Champions League history.

The Serb, who watched the game together with officials from the Chinese Football Association, said that Yatai benefited from player substitutions and tactical adjustments in the second half.

He also gave credit to defender Caballero and goalkeeper Zong Lei. The two players, together with Yatai manager Gao Hongbo, were the key factors that helped make history, he said.

"Caballero has the ability to grasp the overall situation of the game," Petrovic said. "And Zong Lei has been making consistent progress. I hope he will continue his efforts for the national team."

But in Group F, another Chinese Super League club Beijing Guo'an failed to deliver away against Japan as the 10-man team lost to Japan league champions Kashima Antlers.

Brazilian striker Danilo scored the only goal of the game eight minutes into the second half against a Beijing side that played for almost an hour with 10 men following Zhou Ting's red card in the 33rd minute.

Despite being a man short, Beijing had the opportunity to level the score in the 57th minute, but Hitoshi Sogahata saved Tiago's penalty, diving to his right to deny the Brazilian.

PENTATHLON

De Coubertin honored

A monument to modern pentathlon founder Baron Pierre de Coubertin was established at Beijing Sports University on Saturday.

International Union of Modern Pentathlon chief Klaus Schormann, Chinese Olympic Committee vice-president Xiao Tian and Cycling and Fencing Administrative Center director Cai Jiadong attended the event, which also included a tree-planting ceremony.

Modern pentathlon has been called the "true Olympic sport" and is said to most accurately convey the ideals of the Olympics.

Coubertin founded the event believing it would test a person's moral qualities as much as their physical resources and skills. It was first introduced to the Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1912.

China will fight for a medal in the sport at the Beijing Games in August. Qian Zhenhua, gold medalist at the 2005 World Championships, is the hot favorite.

TENNIS

Women's team gets new sponsor

China's women's tennis team signed a sponsorship agreement with Huangguoshu, a domestic mineral water company in Guizhou, on Monday.

The company is located in Huangguoshu Resort, which boasts the largest waterfall in Asia.

The country's tennis team features a number of talented players including singles ace Li Na, Peng Shuai, Australian and Wimbledon Open double champions Zheng Jie and Yan Zi.

The team will strive for medals in both singles and doubles events at the Beijing Olympics in August.

(China Daily 04/10/2008 page23)