Li comes back with new lease of life

GUANGZHOU: Even experienced sportswriters can be surprised by the exploits of athletes. Like when Yao Ming was drafted No 1 by the Houston Rockets, for example, or when Kobe Bryant scored 81 points. It is the same kind of jaw-dropping reaction the icy Li Na got when she sang a lullaby to a group of children she didn't even know.

Jiang says singles medal attainable

China will strive for medals in both women's singles and doubles events at the Beijing Olympics, national team head coach Jiang Hongwei told a press conference in Guangzhou.

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Sports China

Liu begins training in isolation

Friends and relatives of China's 110m hurdles star Liu Xiang will find it more difficult to reach him by cell phone or through MSN on the Internet as the reigning Olympic champion has been asked to limit his links to the outside world until the Beijing Games.

US hopes to avoid China after heated soccer friendly

The coach of the US under-23 side wants to avoid facing China if his team qualifies for next year's Olympics after a friendly between the teams ended with a contentious penalty and an ugly brawl.

Democracy in action

A few weeks ago, we discussed the alleged "snubbing" of Milwaukee Bucks rookie Yi Jianlian from the All-Star ballot. Only so many stars fit onto a single ballot, after all, and as we said then, Yi is great for a rookie but he has hardly earned the noble title of "All-Star".

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Sports China

China's squad one of world's best despite inexperience

Trampoline has quickly gained popularity in China having only been introduced to the country 10 years ago, and the national team is hoping for a good performance at the Beijing Olympic Games next year.

Bouncing toward Beijing on trampoline

Ye Shuai's first experience on a trampoline was at a training facility during his two years working with a local artistic gymnastics team in South China's coastal city of Xiamen.