Talking Balls: Cheerleaders, Butt, Record Breakers & Tianjin Relegated?

Liu Xiang won his hurdles heat. This is the news that is front page in China today. Fair enough, he is undoubtedly the star athlete of Team China and the biggest draw for the Asian Games but spare a thought for Lao Yi. Lao became the fastest man in Asia when he won the Men's 100m last night. With the favourite, Qatar's Samuel Francis, disqualified in the semi-final it fell to the second favourite to take the crown. His time of 10.24 seconds was enough to take the race and for him to become the first ever Chinese winner of the event. He may have been unknown before the Games but he deserves his moment in the sun now ... even it comes at the expense of hurdling's golden boy.

The sad thing is that it looks like no one really cares. The final of the 100 metres was immediately after the first round of the Men's 110m hurdles. Unsurprisingly "national hero" (forgetting the Olympics, of course) Liu Xiang took all the flashing lights. When Liu first arrived at the stadium, the volunteers and staff got pictures before the professional photographers. When introducing the runners to the audience at the stadium, the announcer stopped after Liu Xiang in the fourth lane and, according to Jiefang Daily's report, nobody cared about the mistake - including the other runners. Add to this that most of the 60,000 crowd left the stadium in the 20 minutes after his heat and the fact that some female journalists even had their hair done to attend the 110m hurdles press conference and you can see what an uphill battle other Chinese athletes face.

Swimmer Zhang Lin may have taken a relay gold and two bronzes from the Asiad but he has disappointed his legion of fans. They feel short-changed that he lost every race to his great rival and King of the Guangzhou pool, Park Tae-hwan of South Korea. The Chinese star remains chipper, saying "I admit that I failed this time. All athletes feel bad when they suffer failure, but if I want to emerge from the shadow of this, I have to face it positively." If only this attitude could extend to the nation's footballers.

And so to football. The most ridiculous transfer story ever has reared its head and it takes place south of us in the mad world of Hong Kong. Former Manchester United midfielder Nicky Butt has reportedly been offered a GBP 200,000 per week contract to play for South China. The story has made the news wires so there seems to be some truth to it but the British tabloids are always more fun - click here for The People's take. To put this in some perspective, this is the same pay as Manchester City's Yaya Toure - the highest paid player in the Premier League who also happens to play at the richest club in the world. South China's Chairman, Steven Lo, is behind this bumper deal and Nicky would be best off taking the man's money before he does something stupid like sign Eric Djemba-Djemba.

Back in Beijing, at least according to Sina.com, Guoan will sign the former coach of the Costa Rican national team, Alexandre Borges Guimarães. He and his assistant will cost the club about USD 1 million for two years. However, the Beijing News reported that the Costa Rican changed his mind at the last minute. We'll have to wait and see.

Meanwhile, The Chongqing Times reported that the CFA told relegated Chongqing Lifan to be prepared to play in the Chinese Super League next season because there might be a team disqualified because of gambling. The rumours are that the team in question is Tianjin Teda. Tianjin have declared that there has been no investigation yet which sounds like an admission of guilt to us.

China's Men's and Women's basketball teams are destroying all put in front of them at the Asian Games. Expect two more Golds to be added to a medal table that already reads 155 Golds, 78 Silvers and 76 Bronzes for China. The country's most famous 'baller is not so lucky with a bruise forcing Yao Ming to spend another two weeks on the sidelines.

Finally, here's what some cheerleaders look like for those who cancelled their trip to Guangzhou after finding out that the "making love" motto was not all that official.