Who's hot, who's not in China Sports (Week 19)

Ding fights for weight loss

[Photo courtesy: weibo.com/147snooker, sina.com.cn]

The first-round exit from the Snooker World Championships must have been devastating for Ding Junhui, but he is happy about another loss – his weight.

Ding is currently making use of his time in China, training with Zhang Tiequan a well-known mixed martial artist. He said the game of snooker is too quiet, and sometimes he needs to release his feelings from deep inside his heart.

He lost 3 kilograms, which brings his weight to about 65 kg. I guess he just doesn't want to grow into a portly snooker player figure like, no offense, John Higgins.

Iverson: no approach from CBA clubs

Allen Iverson found his rhythm again as the NBA's four-time scoring champion racked up 32 points at the US Legends' 126-109 victory over the Shanxi Brave Dragons on Wednesday. It is also the most points he had throughout the exhibition team's two-week China tour.

Iverson denied a widely hyped speculation that he is in talks with some CBA clubs for a contract this summer, saying he hasn't been approached by any of them.

Pundits and some CBA head coaches hinted that Iverson is not physically ready for pro games. But he insisted he remains a superstar, at least "in the CBA".

Liu braces for bigger test

Liu Xiang clocked 13.09 seconds in the men's 110-meter hurdle event at the IAAF Golden Grand Prix in Kawasaki, Japan, on Sunday. It was the second best record this year, after Aries Merritt's 13.03 s. 

 With less than three months until the London Olympics, all of Liu's rivals in the field have started to raise their game, which means they will square off against one another more often in IAAF events before the Olympics. On May 19, Liu will face David Oliver, Aries Merritt, and world record holder Dayron Robles at the IAAF Golden Grand Prix in Shanghai. It will be an exciting 13 seconds to watch.

Conca supports his translator

Evergrande midfielder Dario Conca was suspended for nine games and fined 1 million yuan ($159,000) for publicly criticizing coach Lee Jang-soo on Weibo.

He wrote down his complaints about his limited time on the field and questioned the coach's decisions during the club's AFC Champions League match against Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors at home on May 1. The message was in Portuguese. Then his personal translator, Martinha (Weibo name), published a Chinese version, which seemed to express stronger negative feelings, moments later using Conca's Weibo account.

On Monday Conca expressed his support for the translator, saying her translation had no problems. Then the words were translated again into Chinese a minute later.

Tennis official may be matchmaker

Ye En, a physical trainer for tennis player Zheng Jie, appeared on China's most popular TV dating show, If You Are the One, on Saturday, thanks to efforts by a Chinese tennis official.

Ye, 42, said that after almost two decades of being a physical trainer traveling with multiple teams and athletes, he finally longed for a companion and starting a family. And he made up his mind about going on the dating show, which will be broadcast this weekend, at the suggestion of Sun Jinfang, director of the China Tennis Administrative Center.

A 15-member entourage, including Sun, Zheng and other staffers from the organization attended the taping, rooting for Ye from the audience.