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I Want My NBA!

Tuesday, 27th May 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (1)

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Usually, NBA fans in China are pretty well served, with games airing regularly on CCTV Sports. But about a week ago, with the NBA Playoffs in full swing, coverage stopped. When the Spurs-Lakers Western Conference Finals get bumped for reruns of a field hockey tournament, you know something is amiss. Sources at Chinese sports media tell us there is some dispute between CCTV and the league that's keeping the games off the air. While they work on resolving things, you can try watching online.
Sohu.com has streaming video of games at NBA.s.sohu.com; however, we've had no success at downloading the player to our computers. If anyone out there has had better luck, please leave a comment.

UPDATE: Jiang Heping, director of CCTV's sports channel, is somehow connecting the NBA blackout with the Sichuan earthquake and subsequent three days of mourning that took place last week in China. Other sports, including table tennis, soccer (football), and athletics (track) seemed to be unaffected though.

Image: sohh.com

Tags: basketball, NBA

Underdog Sichuan Relay Team Wins at Bird's Nest

Tuesday, 27th May 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)

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Liu Xiang won the 110-meter hurdles at the weekend's Good Luck Beijing Athletics Open—no surprise there. And he praised the track at the Bird's Nest—also not surprising. But what was surprising, and inspiring, at the meet, was the come-from-behind victory of the Sichuan relay team in the 4X100 meters race.

The 4X100 final was supposed to be a run-off between the Chinese national team and Japan, and toward the end of the third leg it looked like that was exactly what would happen. But the Chinese team fumbled the last baton handoff, leaving Japan in the lead with Guangdong (province) in second. In the final leg, though, Yin Hualong from Sichuan overtook the Japanese front runner from two meters behind, winning the race for Sichuan with a time of 39.45 seconds.

It was an unexpected and uplifting victory for the team from the province that has seen so much devastation since the May 12 Wenchuan earthquake. Yin reportedly pointed to the name of his province on his jersey and proudly declared "I'm from Sichuan!" at the finish.

Tags: Good Luck Beijing, Liu Xiang, Sichuan