Talking Balls: Scandals, Spaniards, Schoolkids and Swamp Soccer

AC Milan beat their city rivals Inter 2-1 to win the Supercoppa Italiana at the Bird's Nest. Second-half goals from Zlatan and Kevin Prince Boateng sealed a comeback from Wesley Sneijder's first-half free kick. The rossoneri were deserved winners but the game may ultimately be overshadowed by the actions of Alexandre Pato. The Brazilian's gesture (shown above) was beamed live on CCTV. The Internet has already started calling for his blood. Whether it's racist or not, it is another addition to a long list of foreign sportsmen behaving inappropriately in China.

That's not the only trouble foreign sports stars get into over here, though. Pork tainted with clenbuterol – used by athletes and pig farmers alike to aid weight loss – has been in the news of late; it has been blamed for doping test failures. Last year, German table tennis player Dimitrij Ovtcharov was cleared after blaming his positive test on Chinese meat. This was backed up by a German study that found that 22 out of 28 people returning from China tested positive for trace levels of clenbuterol. Visitors, you'll have to decide between dinner and that Olympic gold. In similar news, North Korean officials blamed Traditional Chinese Medicine – which they had used to treat the effects of lightning strikes – for the fact that five of its players tested positive for steroids at the recent Women's World Cup. Now you can add musk deer glands to the list of things you should avoid ingesting.

Real Madrid rolled into Tianjin after beating CSL champions-elect Guangzhou, 7-1. The Chinese team were so outclassed that they tried to swap shirts at half-time. Tianjin did not fare much better, losing 6-0, but one team held their own on Real’s China tour. Watch the video below for 109 schoolkids taking on the Spanish side.

Dwayne Wade was in Beijing last week for the "The One Million RMB Basketball Charity Challenge" which he won with the proceeds going to charity. Wade's presence has led to increasing speculation as to where the NBA players might come if the lockout continues. There have been many reports that the game's stars are considering China, but China Sports Review offers their opinion on why CBA teams might not be interested.

Peng Shuai has reached #17 in the WTA rankings. That's quite a leap from #72 at the beginning of this year. She's hoping to take a cue from Li Na at the upcoming US Open. Li Na can take consolation in the fact that she was the 8th highest-earning sportswoman last year.

The Swimming World Championships in Shanghai were not quite as productive for China as the Beijing Olympics but they still came second in the medal table. China Sports Today has a full breakdown of what China did in the water.

Zhang Shanwu, the gymnast-turned-beggar, has been given the opportunity to turn his life around. Billionaire recycling chief Chen Guangbiao has offered the former-Olympic hopeful a job as a fitness instructor. RMB 10,000 is the figure Zhang’s reported to be earning; the job also includes training in singing and broadcasting as preparation for an upcoming charity concert.

China’s female athlete of the year for 2010, Olympic speed skater Wang Meng, has been expelled from the national team. She was recently hospitalized after a drunken brawl with her manager at a training camp, an incident that followed a clash with security guards earlier in the year – they had accused Wang and her teammates of being too noisy on a night out – and it was too much for the powers that be. China Daily offers a timeline here.

Yani Tseng has become the youngest-ever winner of five golf majors. At just 22, she beats Tiger Woods' record in the men’s game by two years and Annika Sorenstam’s record for women by 10 years. It's hoped that the Taiwanese golfer will expand the popularity of the sport in China but there are signs that the world is already taking notice of China’s emerging golfers. Leaderboard Golf, which runs four courses in the UK, has started teaching its staff and caddies Mandarin.

And finally, swamp soccer kicks off at the Bird’s Nest this week. We’re going along to find out all about it, but for now here’s the video. Apparently it is popular in Scotland.

Photos: Caught Offside and China Daily