Sports seek prominence on nation's campuses

When the Peking University men's basketball team won its first Chinese University Basketball Association championship on June 11, there was only a small crowd at the 8,000-seat Khoo Teck Puat Gymnasium to share the players' joy.

But team captain Cheng Chi was unfazed by the weak turnout.

"In top-notch Chinese universities like PKU, basketball or sports in general do not enjoy as much attention as academic and scientific achievements do," the 1.98-meter center, a senior majoring in accounting, said on Sunday.