Canadian youngster eyes Beijing gold

At the age of 22, Canadian diver Alexandre Despatie is already a two-time Olympian with one silver medal to his name. And with the Beijing Olympics only five months away, the young springboard world champion has set his eyes on his third Olympic Games and this time he's going for gold.

Officials rule out need to raise difficulty

Many foreign divers have been showing the highest levels of difficulty in their dives in recent competitions. But Chinese diving officials insist they don't need to increase the degrees of difficulty to ensure their team's success and need only to improve the precision of their current dives.

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Sports China

Worlds a dress rehearsal for Games

The all-conquering Chinese table tennis team is making a statement in its bid to sweep all the gold medals at the Beijing Olympics by dominating the World Team Championships in Guangzhou.

Yao's foot puts Liu's trainers on their toes

The recent injury of China's NBA star Yao Ming has raised the concerns of officials from all the other Chinese national teams, especially for Liu Xiang, one of China's biggest hopes for the Beijing Olympic Games.

Pine Valley Beijing Open doubles prize money to $1m

The second edition of the Pine Valley Beijing Open will see its prize money doubled to $1 million this year, sponsors announced on Wednesday.

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IN BRIEF (Page 23)

Sports China

My left foot ... Yao's agony

Yao Ming's season-ending injury has forced China's coaches and players to consider a situation they've never even thought about - entering the Beijing Olympics without their superstar center.

Coach draws media's wrath for defending 'arrogant' diver

China diving team manager Zhou Jihong felt the heat after she chose to stand by star women's diver Guo Jingjing, who came under fire for snubbing the press during last weekend's Olympic diving test event.