IN BRIEF (Page 23)

Basketball

CBA stars head to Houston

Ten young Chinese basketball players left for Houston on Sunday to attend the "CBA and Anta Training Camp".

Sponsored by sportswear company Anta and organized by the Chinese Basketball Association, the camp will last for two weeks and will take place at the Houston Rockets' training base in the United States.

Led by Wang Bo, the top scorer of Jilin Tonggang team, and Beijing Shougang swingman Chen Lei, the players will be coached by Rockets head coach Rick Adelman, who guided his side to 22 consecutive wins last season. Steve Francis is scheduled to visit the camp as well.

"The camp will broaden my mind," said Wang. "I will try to learn some advanced basketball ideas in Houston and then bring them back to my team in the CBA next season."

Soccer

Soccer league for Sichuan

A national soccer league organized by Du-Bang Insurance has been launched with a goal of raising donations to help people in the quake-hit Sichuan province.

Du-Bang Insurance, which donated 1 million yuan ($144,000) immediately following the earthquake, is hoping that after the soccer tournament more people will get involved in supporting those affected by the quake.

The league is divided into seven regions - Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Guangxi, Shandong, Dalian, Yunnan and Liaoning. The champion from every region will compete for the national title.

So far, around 1,000 people have submitted applications through www.dbicsport.com.cn to take part and the opening match, which will kick off in the next month.

Table tennis

Chinese-Turk set for Beijing

ANKARA, Turkey: A national sportswoman of Chinese origin will represent Turkey for the first time in the table tennis competition at the upcoming Beijing Olympic Games, the Anatolia news agency reported on Monday.

Melek Hu, a player from the Turkish Fenerbahce Sports Club, said on Monday that she was excited to represent Turkey at the Olympics in her native country.

Hu became a member of the Turkish national team 10 months ago after she acquired Turkish nationality.

Melek Hu was born in China in 1989. She is the first woman to represent Turkey in table tennis at the Olympics.

Miscellaneous

Sports association formed

The World Eminence China Business Sports Industry Association was established in Beijing on Friday.

The association aims to upgrade the competitiveness of China's sports industry in the rest of the world and to serve China's international sports business enterprises. It is the first of its kind in the world. Zhang Faqiang, vice-chairman of the Chinese Olympic Committee and former deputy sports minister, is the chairman of the association.

As the need for sports activities and sporting goods merge with China's fast-developing economy, China is becoming one of the world's leading sporting-goods producers and exporters.

But the influence of China's sports industry and management of sporting goods still has room to grow. The association will combine its resources and serve every Chinese sports business enterprise to strengthen China's national sports industry.

(China Daily 06/04/2008 page23)