2010 May 11 Talking Balls: Pork, Porking and Porkies
Sex scandal alert! Well, not really as it might be old news but one of the following links might not be suitable for work. Anyway, car model and blue (or yellow) movie star, Shou Shou is dating Team China basketball star Zhang Bo. Here are the pictures from Beijing Airport.
Judo star Tong Wen has been banned from competition for failing a drugs test. The reason that her coach has given for testing positive for Clenbuterol is "She trained in Europe and was sick of the food so we gave her a lot of pork chops when she came home." Sounds entirely plausible to me when you consider China's top backstroke swimmer Ouyang Kunpeng ‘s pre-Olympics life ban. He claimed that he had eaten too much barbecued roast pork with pals before the test.
Now to football, Beijing Guoan play Suwon Samsung Bluewings in the AFC Champions’ League tonight. They have an added incentive to the tune of RMB 3,000,000 in win bonus to split between the team. Catch the game on BTV-6 or CCTV-5 from 6.30pm (in about half an hour).
Former China captain Li Weifeng plays for Suwon Samsung Bluewings but he’s lost some of the respect of his countrymen. An unnamed Guoan player is quoted thus:” His niubi years have gone, who would've known what he's up to if it wasn't the media keep mentioning him?" This could spice up tonight’s game as Li looks to exact retribution.
The Socceroos have announced their World Cup squad and Joel Griffiths has not made it. Bad luck. At least he can catch the games as the CSL is taking a break in June for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Why would they do that when China is not involved? Apparently so the players can learn from watching on TV.
Someone who has learned his lesson this week is Guoan full-back Maurice Ross. He was involved in an incident in Sanlitun where a Cadillac door was given a trademark kick. The police intervened and Ross was shaken down by the Cadillac owner for RMB 30,000. Dang. Good news for Ross is that he has gained a lot of support from netizens. More on Sanlitun-Cadillacgate here and here.
Kenneth Huang’s people denied that he was trying to buy Premier League failures Liverpool but that’s not put off Shanghai Shenhua boss Zhu Jun. According to The Independent he’s in talks regarding a possible takeover. More here.
Finally, Beijing Guoan asked the CSL to postpone their August 8 league clash with Shenzhen. The CSL’s response was “it’s not that easy.” Don’t hold your breath for the Catalan club just yet.
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Talking Balls: Bets, Jets & Threats
Newcastle Jets are demanding that the AUD 1 million fee agreed for the loan of Joel Griffiths be paid in full before Nov 30 otherwise the player will return to Australia. According to Jets owner Con Constantine, Beijing have reneged on their part of the deal. Watch this space.
Another space worth watching is Tianjin, where the Tianjin Daily reports that sacked Guoan coach Lee Jang-Soo is close to signing for Beijing’s biggest rivals. Lee poured cold water on the rumours by claiming that he has no interpreter with him so wasn’t discussing contracts.
Talking Balls: Read All About It - Weekend Sports Shorts
China’s men went out to hosts Canada in the quarters of the World Curling Championships. There is still no word on when and where the Chinese National Championships will be held in Beijing this month.
Sun Yang and Liu Zige got close to Asian records at the Chinese Spring National Championships. The swimmers will be heartened by their displays in the lead-up to Shanghai-held World Championships.
Talking Balls: AI, Transfer Records & The Champion Ducks Smashed
In football news, Guangzhou have completed the signing of Lucas Barrios from back-to-back German Bundesliga champions Borussia Dortmund. He's cost EUR 8.5 million - a new CSL record - and was the German league's topscorer during Dortmund's first championship. Chinese football has finally gotten its first star player.
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The Olympics are around the corner, or should we say, further along the line. Transport London, which runs the capital's world-famous Tube, have decided to cash in on the Olympics. They've released a map with a twist: All of the stations are now named after famous Olympians. We admit that it's better than the 2012 mascots but as merchandise goes, it's still pretty bad. There are 13 Chinese Olympians on the map:
Talking Balls: Shame On Shanxi, Ghastly Guoan & Some Sports Shorts
The Beijing Ducks and Shanxi Brave Dragons have gone to game five in their CBA playoff semi-final. The game was originally set for March 14 but was postponed until March 18 so that everyone could enjoy St. Patrick’s Day. No, actually it was put back because of a near-riot in game four. Shanxi’s fans also took that meeting as an opportunity to shower the court with debris. They've been fined nine times for similar incidents over the last four years. They have just added another RMB 60,000 to the CBA's Christmas party fund. You stay classy, Shanxi.
