Wang Meng still has chance for Sochi Winter Olympics

SHANGHAI - Although it still remains a mystery when China's four-time Winter Olympic champion Wang Meng could return to the national short track speedskating team, vice director of China's Winter Sports Administrative Center Lan Li said on Saturday that she is not ruled out of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games.

Wang was expelled from the national team last August for punching team manager Wang Chunlu after breaking the team curfew and coming back to the team base drunk. And the 27-year-old has been banned from all kinds of domestic competitions including the National Winter Games in January and the ongoing Shanghai Worlds.

"Wang has been back training in Heilongjiang and she really has learned lessons from the incident," said Lan. "As an athlete, the most important thing is to train hard and keep fit. The door is not totally shut for her in the 2014 Sochi Games."

Wang is the most decorated Chinese Winter Olympic athlete ever with four gold medals, a silver and a bronze.

Zhou Yang, who snatched the women's 1,500m and 3,000m relay team golds alongside Wang at the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, also disqualified for the Worlds.

"Zhou Yang's form is still bad," said Lan.

According to Lan, there will be a national qualifier next weekend in Beijing.

"We are trying to standardize the selection procedure of the national team, and the qualifier next weekend will be a test," he said. "We will also consider other things besides the results of the qualifier."

China has snatched a gold in the Shanghai worlds as Li Jianrou won the women's 1500m on Friday.