China's soccer, basketball, volleyball face tougher battles for Olympic berths

China's soccer, basketball, volleyball face tougher battles for Olympic berths

With London Olympic Games only one year to go, prospects for Chinese soccer, basketball and volleyball to earn Olympic berths remain slim.

Chinese men's Olympic soccer team has just finished their campaign as they lost to Oman 4-1 in a two-leg second round of 2012 London Olympic Asian men's soccer qualifiers.

Croatian Miroslav Blazevic, who once took the Croatian national team to win a bronze medal in 1998 World Cup, became head coach of Chinese team in last December but failed to bring a miracle to China. The team assembled five times for a total of 70 days but changed little in terms of tecniques and tactics.

Chinese women's team once won silver medals in 1996 Atlanta Olympics and 1999 Women's World Cup. However, they have been going down due to lack of young players. According to Chinese Football Association, China has only 400 registered women soccer players in sharp contrast to the world's 29 million. As a result, Chinese women's team failed to reach the quarterfinals of 2004 Athens Olympics and were even absent from the 2011 Germany's World Cup.

Now the team has finished their training in Changchun, northeast of China, where they aimed to reserve physical strength. The team played two friendly matches against Russia with one win and one draw. And then they moved to Shenyang for next training phase and will leave for Jinan about ten days before the Olympic Asian qualifiers slated from Sep 1 to 11.

According to the competition schedule, China will play successively against South Korea, DPR Korea, Thailand, Australia and Japan. Top two teams will be awarded Olympic slots after the single round-robin tournament.

Li Xiaopeng, head coach of Chinese women's team, expressed his confidence in earning an Olympic berth despite the fact that China lacks good forwards as Han Duan and Ma Xiaoxu both sustained injuries.

"We are on the same level with other teams, and we have the strength to beat them."said he.

Yu Hongchen, deputy director of China's football governing body, said:"I totally trust the coaching staff and they will bring hopes to us."

Compared with Chinese soccer's goal of winning Olympic tickets, Chinese basketball aimed to enter the last eight in London.

If Chinese men's and women's teams are crowned in Asian Championships this year, they can go directly to London. If not, they will have to play wildcard tournaments next year, which will allocate three tickets each for men and women.NFL jerseys wholesale from China

Asian Men's Basketball Championships will take place from Sept. 15 to 25 in Wuhan of China. Reigning champion China will encounter a big challenge from Iran, champion in 2009 and South Korea, runner-up in 2010.

Hu Jiashi, vice president of Chinese Basketball Association, downplayed China's defending prospects. And veteran Wang Zhizhi said that former NBA center Yao Ming's retirement will definitely influence China's preparation for the Asian Championships.

However, another NBA player Yi Jianlian, who plays for Washington Wizards, said in confidence:"We have home advantage and winning the tournament is our mere target."

Asian Women's Basketball Championships will be held from Aug. 21-28 in Japan. China has built up their confidence after they lifted the titles in 2009 Asian Championships and 2010 Asian Games.

China head coach Sun Fengwu said:"We will be the champion in the 2011 Asian Championships." Center Chen Nan echoed:"There must be some difficulties, but we are still stronger than our rivals South Korea and Japan."

Chinese volleyball may face a tougher road to the London Olympics.starcraft 2 Promotion For the women's side, they have not been what they used to be in 2004 Athens Games and 2008 Beijing Games. After a variety of defeats, the flagship team has changed its head coaches from Cai Bin to Wang Baoquan and then to Yu Juemin.

China will have to go through the Asian Championships in September to win a slot for the World Cup in Japan in November, where top three placers will advance to the London Games.Stretch tricot knitted fabric Otherwise,Cheap Christian Louboutin China will have to play the World Olympic Qualification Tournament in Japan in 2012.

It's really hard for China to go to London upright through the World Cup as Russia, Brazil are strong rivals. However, if China remain in a steady level, it is possible for them to win an Olympic ticket in the World Olympic Qualification Tournament.

As for Chinese men's volleyball, chance is slim as the team is far from the world class.nfl throwback jerseys from china They only played the Olympics in 1984 and 2008. But head coach Zhou Jian'an said they will never give up.

Hu says backs African plan to end Libyan crisis

Hu says backs African plan to end Libyan crisis

BEIJING - Chinese President Hu Jintao on Thursday held a phone conversation with his South African counterpart Jacob Zuma, in which the two leaders exchanged views on bilateral ties and issues of common concern.,Fashion boots,

The two leaders both said they felt satisfied with the development of bilateral ties and expressed their willingness to work together to deepen the China-South Africa comprehensive strategic partnership.

Zuma told Hu the efforts the African Union (AU) have made to peacefully solve the Libya issue.

Zuma said the AU has offered a road map on a political solution to the Libya issue and has been keeping contact with the two parties and others involved in the Libya conflict.,starcraft 2 Promotion,

The AU would continue to communicate and coordinate with China and interested parties in a bid to peacefully resolve the Libya issue.

Hu said the situation in Libya has become the spotlight of the international community and the humanitarian crisis it had triggered was worrisome.

China has called for an immediate ceasefire among related parties and urged them to negotiate on peacefully solving the Libya crisis, solve the dispute in a political and peaceful way and restore a normal order through dialogue and negotiations, Hu said.

Libya's sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity should be respected and its future should be decided by its people, so the international community should respect the choice made by the Libyan people, Hu said.

China hopes that Libya could adopt a more flexible and pragmatic attitude and seriously consider the peace plan proposed by the AU and other parties, considering the basic interests of the country and the people and safeguarding regional peace and stability as priority.,air jordan shoes, The international community should also play a more active and constructive role on the issue, Hu said.

South Africa and the AU have played an important role in promoting a political solution to the Libya crisis,,cheap ugg boots, which demonstrated the determination of the African countries to stick to "African solutions to African problems", Hu said.

Hu added that China highly appreciated this and was willing to maintain close communications and coordination with South Africa and the AU on the Libya issue.

Do not capitalize on China's local government debt

Do not capitalize on China's local government debt

China's local governments at the provincial,polo ralph Lauren municipal and county levels had amassed more than 10.7 trillion yuan in debt by the end of last year, according to a report recently released by the National Audit Office. The huge debt has caused great concern among reporters and businesspeople both foreign and domestic about a possible default and the repayment capability of China's local government.

Industry insiders believe that China's local government debt is still under control and will not create an adverse chain reaction. The central government is increasing regulatory efforts to curb the disorderly growth in local government debt.

China's local government debt burden exaggerated

The National Audit Office's report has generated a heated discussion among domestic and overseas media about whether China's local government debt is massive and whether it will produce adverse effects on the Chinese economy. Certain international credit rating agencies failed to provide objective and fair ratings. As a result, many foreign investment institutions took the chance to hint at a possible economic downturn in China and started using local government debt as a new tool to make negative predictions about China's economy.

Moody's,the north face jackets one of the three leading international rating agencies, recently said in a report that China's local government debt burden may be 3.5 trillion yuan larger than auditors estimated and warned that the credit outlook for Chinese lenders could turn negative. Shortly afterward, the share prices of major Hong Kong-listed Chinese banks dropped sharply.

Sun Mingchun, chief China economist for Daiwa Securities,timberland boots sale said that Moody's used inaccurate data and inexact calculations to produce the report on China's local government debt. Independent economist Andy Xie believes that there will be more negative reports about the country's debt burden from Moody's because they serve the interests of both the rating agency itself and international investors.

Zuo Xiaolei,chi hair straigntener chief economist at China Galaxy Securities, said frankly that certain influential rating agencies have formed a community of interests — if not a conspiracy — with short-sellers and are trying to gain benefits by issuing negative ratings, making negative predications about China's economy and exaggerating China's local government debt burden.wholesales mac Lip gloss Their purpose is to use the money of the Chinese people to pay off the debt of crisis makers.

Local debt risk controllable

"Foreign media indeed have exaggerated China's local debt risk," Zhou Li, a professor from the School of Economics and Management under Tsinghua University, said during an interview. Zhou also said that although China's local debt has currently reached 10.7 trillion yuan and there are some problems in the local borrowing system, this would not influence the solvency and normal operation of local governments.

Guo Tianyong, director of the China Banking Research Center under the Central University of Finance and Economics, said that the primary cause of the rapid expansion of local debt is that the reform of the tax system has caused the asymmetric distribution of administrative and financial powers between local governments. This gradually caused a situation in which administrative powers gathered in hands of governments at the higher level, while financial powers were transferred to governments at the lower level.

Schwartzel continues fine form in Players' Championship

Schwartzel continues fine form in Players' Championship

Masters champion Charl Schwartzel put together a final round four-under-par 68 to vault him to a share of 26th place in the Players' Championship at Sawgrass in Florida on Sunday.

Schwartzel's four-round total of six-under-par 282 was seven shots behind KJ Choi of South Korea and David Toms of the United States.

Choi and Toms duelled in a sudden death playoff with the Korean winning on the first playoff hole.

Schwartzel, who flew straight to the Malaysian Open after donning the green jacket at Augusta in April, then took a two week break back at his home course, Maccauvlei Golf Club in Vereeniging, before jetting back to the US for the tournament regarded as "the fifth Major".GHD Pink Limited Edition

The 26-year-old, who in 2007 was ranked 83rd in the world, is now 12th and South Africa's highest ranked player.Instyler He trails 14-time major winner and struggling former world No 1 Tiger Woods by only four positions.

Rory Sabbatini was the top-placed South African after three rounds in Florida, on seven under par, but got his final round off to a bad start.

He opened with bogey, bogey, double-bogey to end any chance he had of winning the tournament.

The fiery Sabbatini, who was involved in a heated argument with American Sean O'Hair in New Orleans last month, rallied on the back nine to pick up four birdies with a solitary bogey, shooting a 73 and joining Schwartzel in a tie for 26th.

Former Masters champion Trevor Immelman finished a shot behind in a tie for 34th.

Defending champion Tim Clark, who presented the trophy to Choi, was unable to finish two rounds due to an elbow injury. He withdrew after the tendonitis in his right elbow became unbearable after 10 holes in his second round.chi flat irons

Clark picked up the injury shortly after the Sony Open where he finished second in January.

On the European Tour, Thomas Aiken followed up his victory last week with a tie for ninth on level par for the four rounds in the Iberdrola Open in Mallorca.

The South African was six shots behind winner Darren Clarke of Northern Ireland.

Aiken fired a final roundGHD Black two-over-par 72 in windy conditions.starcraft 2 Promotion The seven-time Sunshine Tour winner had a chance of making a charge until a double bogey on the par four 11th ended his challenge.

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Henri-Levy said Sarkozy listened to them but did not say whether any aid or arms were pledged.

France has played a driving role in the NATO-led campaign of airstrikes,,Cheap Christian Louboutin, mandated by the U.N. to protect civilians from a crackdown by Gadhafi's forces on an uprising against his rule, amid revolts this year around the Arab world.

Last week, more than 30 nations including the United States gave the Libyan rebels a boost by recognizing their National Transitional Council as the country's legitimate government, potentially freeing up billions of dollars in urgently needed cash.

Paraguay into Copa America final

Paraguay into Copa America final

Paraguay rode its luck through another penalty shootout to beat Venezuela on Wednesday and set up a Copa America final against Uruguay.

Paraguay, which has not won any of its five matches in the tournament, booked its place in the final following a goalless draw and a 5-3 victory on penalties.Instyler

The only miss in the shootout came when Justo Villar stopped Franklin Lucena's shot. Dario Veron held his nerved to net the final spot kick and set up Sunday's final against Uruguay, which beat Peru 2-0 in the other semifinal on Tuesday.

Venezuela, known more for its baseball, twice hit the post in extra time but came up just short of reaching its first ever final in the South American championship.GHD Black

Paraguay advanced to its first Copa America final since 1979 despite its mediocre record. It eliminated Brazil in another penalty shootout in the quarterfinals.

"Today we played bad, we played good," said Paraguay's Nestor Ortigoza. "The important thing is we won."

After the shootout, a brawl between the teams started as Paraguay celebrated, prompting police to intervene. That came after a game in which Paraguay had its coach and assistant coach expelled from the sideline for arguing decisions.

Nestor Ortigoza,starcraft 2 Promotion Lucas Barrios, Cristian Riveros and Osvaldo Martinez also netted for Paraguay in the shootout.

Giancarlo Maldonado, Jose Rey and Nicolas Fedor scored for Venezuela, but Lucena - taking his team's third kick - saw his low shot to the bottom left corner comfortably held by Villar.

"We came convinced we could advance," Venezuela coach Cesar Farias said. "We did everything humanly possible. Our team never lost its focus. .chi flat irons.. We're not content because we worked to go farther."

After a lackluster 90 minutes, Venezuela twice hit the woodwork in extra time and had some good scoring opportunities.

Maldonado fired a cross shot that was deflected by Fedor onto the post in the 93rd minute. A couple of minutes later, Juan Arango's long-range free kick struck Villar's far post and the Paraguay defense just barely cleared the rebound. Fedor came close again in the 96th, but his shot from close range was saved by Villar.

Venezuela was able to pressure even more after Jonathan Santana was sent off in the 102nd minute for receiving a second yellow card.

Villar had to make another stop on a shot by Salomon Rondon from near the penalty spot, and Gabriel Chichero shot wide from the top of the area in the 114th.

Venezuela had made it through to the Copa America semifinals for the first time in its history by beating Chile 2-1 in the quarters.GHD Pink Limited Edition