IN BRIEF (Page 23)

Athletics

Liu may skip US meet

Liu Xiang, China's best hope to claim athletics gold at the Beijing Olympics, needs time to recover from a tight hamstring and might not be fit to run in his final warm-up meet in the US this weekend, his coach said.

The 110m hurdles world champion and world record holder's preparations for his Olympic title defense have been seriously disrupted by the injury, which caused him to withdraw from the Reebok Grand Prix in New York last weekend.

The 24-year-old, currently receiving treatment in southern California, had planned to run in only two meetings in the US before returning to Beijing to acclimate before the Aug 8-24 Games.

Coach Sun Haiping, however, said it was by no means certain that Liu would take part in the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon, on Sunday.

"Please be patient and give him some time to recover," he told the Oriental Sports Daily on Wednesday. "Now he can only take the treatment and try his best to recover in Los Angeles.

"If he is fit enough, he will run in the Eugene meeting," he added. "If not, he will have to pull out. The fundamental thing is to ensure he does not get any injuries."

Snooker

Jiangsu hosts top players

Guolian Securities 2008 World Snooker Jiangsu Masters started yesterday in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu province.

Among the star participants will be eight of the top-12 ranked world players, including 2008 World Snooker Championships runner-up Ali Carter, Shaun Murphy, Mark Selby and China's Ding Junhui. Liang Wenbo of China, the only Chinese player to reach the World Championships quarterfinals, will also play as a wild-card player.

The event, organized by the World Snooker Federation, the Chinese Billiard and Snooker Association and the Jiangsu Sports Bureau, uses the Beijing Xing Pai (Star Brand) billiard and snooker tables as the official competition tables.

Xing Pai tables are the only Chinese billiard and snooker tables sanctioned by the World Professional Billiard and Snooker Association.

The tables first rose to global prominence in 2006 when they were used for the BetFred English Premier League snooker competition, the first time Chinese snooker tables were used in England for a major competition.

Nanjing will host the group and semifinal matches before the players move to Wuxi for the final on Sunday.

Badminton

China rests top players

China will rest its world No 1 pair Lin Dan and Xie Xingfang for the upcoming Indonesian Badminton Super Series, an important tune-up tournament for August's Beijing Olympics.

However, the Chinese are still expected to hog the spotlight as Olympic champion Zhang Ning will battle with reigning world champion Zhu Lin for a ticket to the Games in women's singles.

Zhang, the Athens champion was once a sure bet for China's Olympic team along with Xie. But her Olympic prospects dimmed after she suffered a severe knee injury, which kept her out of the Uber Cup last month in Indonesia.

It will be a tough fight between Zhang and world No 4 Zhu for the last Olympic ticket.

"We won't send the full lineup to the tournament ahead of the Beijing Games," said Chinese team coach Li Yongbo. "We will just send those potential Olympic players to test their forms."

In the men's draw, China will field world No 3 Bao Chunlai and world No 4 Chen Jin.

Miscellaneous

Tennis clubs help quake victims

Dozen of tennis clubs in Beijing launched a charity campaign to help people suffering from last month's devastating 8.0-magnitude earthquake in Sichuan province.

The campaign, organized by the China edition of Tennis Magazine and the Beijing-based Hope Charity Foundation, aims to inspire tennis fans in China to lend a helping hand to the quake victims.

Organizers said the priority of their relief efforts will be the children affected by the quake, to whom they will provide living necessities, text books and sports facilities.

They also encouraged tennis fans to get involved in the campaign for as long as possible.

Last week, foundation spokeswoman Jiang Peilin visited the quake-hit areas and brought more than 6,000 books to local children.

(China Daily 06/05/2008 page23)