Towards the end of a closely fought exhibition game, the CBA's Foshan Dralions got into a bench-clearing brawl last night with Australia's Melbourne Tigers, after a player from the Aussie team (in maroon) gave a tentative love-tap to a Foshan player (in white).
Watch: Yet another basketbrawl! Featuring Foshan Dralions and Melbourne Tigers
China to get another Olympics no sooner than 2028!
China's hopes of hosting another Olympics any time soon will have to be iced, as International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge announced that a wait of at least 20 years after the 2008 Beijing Olympics will be required before another Olympics happens on the mainland.
Watch: Slap-gate! Liu Xiang robbed of victory in 110m hurdles final
And what would a track meet be without a little controversy? During the 110m hurdles final taking place at the IAAF World Championships in Daegu, South Korea, Dayron Robles of Cuba robbed China's Liu Xiang of what looked to have been a certain victory in the event. Though Robles began at a better pace than Liu, the Shanghai-native began to gain ground on Robles and American Jason Richardson, taking the lead by the seventh hurdle.
Watch: 'Use Exercise', a new anti-obesity ad from Nike (UPDATED with new ad featuring Tiger Woods & Liu Xiang!)
Because nobody under 30 in China watches TV anymore, we thought we'd point you towards this new and rather aesthetically pleasing little montage of athletic behaviors from the corporate monolith good people at Nike.
Liu Xiang sets new Asian Championships record for 110-metre hurdles
China's flying hurdler, Liu Xiang (刘翔) has done it again. Yesterday in Kobe, Japan, Liu clocked 13.22 seconds in the 110-hurdles event, re-writing the Asian Athletics Championships record. The first Chinese athlete to achieve the "triple crown" of athletics (World Record Holder, World Champion and Olympic Champion), Liu has been making a steady comeback since his shocking pullout from the 2008 Beijing Olympics. His world record of 12.88 seconds, set 2006 at the Super Grand Prix in Lausanne, was broken by Cuba's Dayron Robles two years later. Robles continues to hold the world record of 12.87 seconds today.
Chinese football gets half a billion yuan to be less awful
The sorry state of Chinese football is getting an instant injection of cash to lift the game's future prospects. Dalian Wanda, a real estate company that was also the former sponsor of the local Dalian Shide football team, has announced an agreement with the Chinese Football Association to provide 500 million RMB over the next three years to develop the youth game in China.
Photos: Special Red Olympics in Gansu
Comrades, it's important to remember the struggles of our brothers and sisters who fought in the revolutionary wars of liberation that happened in the dark bygones of our collective 20th century saga. And what better way to do it than a Red Olympics with events like the Heroic Bunker Bombing Grenade Toss or the Red Soldier Pole Carry?
Liu puts positive spin on seventh place finish
Liu Xiang (刘翔) and his coach Sun Haiping are putting a positive spin on the once world champion hurdler's seventh-place performance at World Indoor Championships in Doha, Qatar, over the weekend. Liu clocked a time of 7.65 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles, in his first major international competition since he limped off the track at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Olympic champion Dayron Robles of Cuba came in first, and the USA's Terrence Trammell was second.
Have you got the GUTS, Chinese youth?
Back when we were wee little children, we watched Nickelodeon's Guts with the same fanaticism our Gen-X uncles had for American Gladiators. The show, which pits kids against kids in a competitive sports arena was great for its messiness, its "safe" violence, and its schadenfreude (when that girl who looks a lot like the annoying kid in your math class falls off the giant yoga mat pyramid onto her face. ha!). We've grown up now, but we're happy to hear that millions of Chinese youth will be getting a taste of the childhood we remember - MTV's international division will be bringing Guts to China. Called 挑战小勇士 (tiaozhan xiaoyongshi), it'll allow Chinese kids their shot at athletic glory and humiliation on a giant foamy set, something the adults have been allowed to do for a while now. Source: Hollywood Reporter
Liu Xiang almost as good as he used to be
Yao Ming may or may not be out for the count, but Shanghai sports lovers can still count on Liu Xiang to possibly bring them sports glory. The 26-year-old hurdler was in top form during an open training class at Shanghai's Xinzhuang Training Base, according to China Daily. Because of his Achilles tendon injury - the one that made all of China wail during the Beijing Olympics - he could still only train with sneakers, rather than spikes. But Liu Xiang put on a brave face, even ripping his shirt off and running aorund topless near the end of the session. That's all well and good, but our PC radar perked up at one of the reactions China Daily recorded from one of his foreign fans. French student Juliette Borque told the paper, "He is the first Chinese to win the Olympic gold medal (in the event). I thought it's interesting, since normally it is always black guys that win. So I started to follow him." Beepbeepbeepbeepbeep?
China leads with national-best 39 gold medals
After winning one gold medal and six total medals on Saturday and then seven golds and 14 total medals on Sunday, China is making a serious run at coming out of the Beijing games with the most gold and most medals overall. As of 11:00 pm Beijing time on Monday, China leads the Olympic gold quest with 39 gold medals, 17 more than Team USA's 22. In terms of overall medals, China trails the USA by five, with the Americans taking 72 compared to China's 67. China won four more gold medals Monday, plus a silver and a bronze, but all the talk was about the medal that China was hoping to win more than any other — the men's 110 meter hurdles. As reported here and across global media, Chinese hurdler Liu Xiang has withdrawn from the event in which he won gold during the Athens games four years ago. China has already far surpassed its 32-gold, 63-overall medal tally in 2004. In 2000 at the Sydney Olympics, China had 28 golds and 59 medals overall. China is seeking to become the first nation other than the United States or former Soviet Union to top the gold medal standings since Germany in 1936. In 1984, the U.S. (aided by the Soviet led boycott) won 83 golds and 174 overall in Los Angeles. The U.S. won 242 medals overall in 1904 in St. Louis.
Shocker: Liu Xiang pulls out of Beijing Olympics
Former Olympic gold medalist hurdler and golden boy for millions of Chinese, Liu Xiang, limped off the track today, taking away with him the hopes of defending the gold and reclaiming his world record from Cuba's Dayron Robles.
Shanghai Marathon 2006
Sunday morning, while most people will be sleeping/ clubbing/ trying to get sober, about 15,000 runners will gather for the Shanghai marathon and half marathon, starting at 7:30 am, on Nanjing Dong Lu and Sichuan Lu.
Ever heard of Damon Jones? Didn't think so
Outspoken (and slightly above average) Cleveland Cavaliers guard Damon Jones made history this week, becoming the first active American NBA player to sign an endorsement deal with a Chinese sports apparel brand. Li Ning, one of China's leading sports brands, signed Jones to a two-year deal, details of which were not disclosed. Jones has worn Li Ning's "Feijia" sneakers for most of this season.

