IN BRIEF (Page 22)
Bowling
National league to see China's top bowlers
The 2007 Vinda China National Ten-pin Bowling League kicks off next week in Beijing.
The event, organized by the China Bowling Association, the CCTV Sports Center and sponsored by the Vinda Paper (Guangdong) Co Ltd, will be held in eight cities from April to November.
The competition features the open and the curve-ball play groups in a Baker format. Each open group team has three players and each curve-ball group has two. The top two teams of the open group and top teams from the curve-ball group are eligible for the grand finale to be held in Guangzhou in November.
But before then, preliminary competitions will be held in Beijing, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Kunming, Dalian, Zhengzhou, and Wuhan. The total prize momey is 760,000 yuan ($100,000).
Vinda company started to sponsor bowling in 1998 for the cross Straits Ten-pin Bowling Masters. It then continued to support the National Champions Tournament for the following four years. It inugurated the league last year with 805 players representing 246 teams taking part.
Winter Games
Invigorating winter games logo unveiled
The logo for the 24th World University Winter Games was unveiled on Tuesday in Harbin, northeast Heilongjiang Province.
The name of the logo is "qinchunfeiyang" or "Invigorating Youth." As required by the International University Sports Federation (FISU), the logo forms a U, the initial of university.
According to the organizers, the design defeated 1118 other applicants. It was designed by Guan Xuelun of the arts institute of Heilongjiang University. It had already won approval from FISU.
The university winter games will be held in Harbin in 2009 with about 3,000 athletes from 50 countries and regions taking part.
Sports science
Top institute comes to China
Gatorade Sports Science Institute (GSSI), the world's leading sports science research center, has opened its first overseas institute in China.
According to Shi Dapeng, China CEO of Pepsi International Group, the institute aims to help Chinese athletes improve their performance through sports science research and to promote China's national fitness program through sports science and knowledge.
NBA stars Michael Jordan, Vince Carter, world footballer of the year Ronaldinho of Barcelona, and woman tennis player Maria Sharapova have been recipients of GSSI.
It started to do sweat tests for the China women's hockey team in 2005 and has since then provided the test and other services for China tennis and table tennis teams and athletes such as world and Olympic gymnast Li Xiaopeng and world No 1 woman table tennis player Zhang Yining.
Headquartered in Barrington, Illinios, the GSSI is a research and educational facility established in 1988 to share current information and expand knowledge on sports nutrition and exercise science that enhance the performance and well-being of athletes.
The materials and services of the institute are designed as educational tools for sports health professionals.
The Institute has become a truly international organization in recent years and currently serves nearly 110,000 members in over 145 countries worldwide.
(China Daily 04/12/2007 page22)
