Earthquake-hit Sichuan halts sports events
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-05-21 19:24

Zhang Rongwei, principal of the Sichuan Sports Institute, told Xinhua Wednesday morning that the Zhang Shan Training Center, which is named after the Sichuan-born Olympic shooting champion, and the Land Sports Training School in the northern suburb of Chengdu, have been declared "hazardous buildings".

Also on the list of "hazardous buildings" are two dormitory buildings of the Sichuan Sports Institute.

Twenty Olympics-bound athletes, including Asian Games hurdles champion Liu Jing, were training in Sichuan when the disaster hit the province historically named as "A Land of Abundance". "They are all safe," said Director Zhu.

Sichuan has churned out a dozen Olympic champions including Chen Longcan (table tennis), Gao Min (diving), Zhang Shan (shooting) and Du Li (shooting) and Tang Lin (judo).

When the earthquake rocked Sichuan, Asian Football Confederation president Hohamed Bin Hammam and Chinese soccer boss Xie Yalong were attending a soccer forum in a Chengdu hotel.

Hamman and Xie looked composed when reporters fled. They were among the last group of the forum attendees evacuated to the Chengdu Sports Center.

The death toll from the devastating earthquake was 40,075 nationwide as of 6 p.m. on Tuesday, according to the Information Office of the State Council. Another 247,645 people were injured and 32,361 people were missing as of Tuesday at noon.

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