Whole new galaxy for young shooting stars

But under-23 competition is met with lukewarm response

Plans to launch a new national under-23 league in December have been met with a muted response from clubs, with many fearing they simply lack the numbers to contribute.

On Monday, the Chinese Football Association unveiled the league as its latest initiative to revive the fortunes of the national team, whose ongoing struggles have been underlined by a failure to find the net in its last three friendlies before Tuesday night's clash against Syria in Nanjing. Those blanks included a stalemate against 97th-ranked India last Saturday in Suzhou.