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Olympics

Olympic songs to be chosen

The awards ceremony for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games songs, as well as the celebration for the 100-day countdown to the Games, will be held tomorrow night at the Imperial Ancestral Temple in Beijing.

Sponsored by Audi, the ceremony will recognize the best 30 songs for the Beijing Olympics and top 10 songs for the Beijing Paralympics.

About 100 famous singers from home and abroad will take part and perform their songs. Popular icons like China's Liu Huan, Jackie Chan and Andy Lau from Hong Kong, and Jay Chou from Chinese Taipei will star.

Fans will also have a first chance to enjoy a live rendition of the Welcome to Beijing, theme song for the 100-day countdown campaign, which will be performed by a group of big stars.

Theme songs for the torch relay and volunteers will also be unveiled. In addition, a marathon event will also take place tomorrow morning at the National Stadium, with around 15,000 people competing.

Sports lottery

Guessing 'Games' introduced

A guessing contest about the Beijing Games will start tomorrow, the 100-day countdown to the opening of the Games, running until Aug 7, the eve of the Games.

Fans can win prize money after buying the lottery tickets issued by the China State Sports Lottery Administration Center. Picking five of 12 sports that Chinese athletes can take medals will win 500 yuan every day. The daily winners will be automatically entered for the final draw to choose the five sports and the amount of medals the Chinese athletes will win during the Games, after the closing ceremony on Aug 24. Millions of dollars are on offer.

Tickets can be bought at 80,000 sales booths around the country.

The kickback is 65 percent, the largest so far in China for such a lottery. The sports are athletics, swimming (excluding water polo and synchronized swimming), diving, gymnastics (excluding rhythmic gymnastics and trampoline), table tennis, badminton, shooting, weightlifting, rowing, fencing, cycling and judo.

Motor sports

Revving up for Mt. Changbai

The Mount Changbai leg of the China National Rally Championship will be held at Mount Changbai scenic resort, Jilin province, from Sept 26-29.

The event, organized by the Federation of Automobile Sports of China, Jilin Sports Bureau and the Mount Changbai Protection Development Administration Committee, is set to attract over 100 automobiles from more than 30 teams, including drivers from Hong Kong and Macao SARs.

The national rally championship is one of the three biggest motor sports events sanctioned by the China State General Administration of Sports. The other two are Formula One at the Shanghai International Circuit and the National Automobile Rally.

Besides the Mount Changbai event, other stops of the 10-year-old championship include Kaiyang in Guizhou province, Shanghai, Mohe in Heilongjiang province, Longyou and Yuyao, both of Zhejiang province, and Shaowu in Fujian province.

MISCELLANEOUS

Huangshan to host cycling

The third Mount Huangshan International Mountain Bike Festival will return to China's popular scenic area next month, with more than 500 riders from over 20 countries and regions taking part in the annual event.

The festival is noted for its scenic cycling route at the foot of the mountain, covering the World Heritage sites of Mount Huangshan National Park, as well as the UNESCO village of Hongcun, where Oscar-winning martial arts drama Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was filmed.

This year's May 9-11 festival will include a 50 km cycling race for elite riders, a 25 km race for the public and a 25 km team race for the public.

It also includes the opening ceremony of a new training base for China's national mountain cycling team.

The event, inaugurated in 2006, will include star attendees such as Sweden's mountain bike Olympic champion Bernt Johansson.

The event is co-organized by the Chinese Cycling Association and Swedish company Nordic Ways.

(China Daily 04/29/2008 page23)