This weekly sports news roundup is from China Sports Today.
• Liao Guiming held off the challenge from Zhang Lianwei and James Su Dong to win the Sofitel Golf Championship in Nanjing. The win, which comes with a 150,000 yuan purse, bumps Liao into second place ahead of Li Chao in the Omega China Tour Order of Merit.
Liao’s win demonstrates how competitive the field is this year on the Omega Tour, China’s main professional golf circuit. He is the fifth different champion in five events for the 2008 season (report).
• Any chance at truth in the rumors circulating in Chinese media that Guo Jingjing is pregnant and leaving the national team were laid to rest as she joined the team at the FINA Diving World Series in Sheffield, England, and took the gold medal in the 3-meter springboard competition (report on rumors and report on win).
• The NBA Playoffs were blocked in China for reasons that are unclear. Some Chinese media reports are saying broadcasts will resume on June 6. (danwei coverage and China Sports Today report).
• A surprise victory by the Sichuan relay team in the 4×100 meter race at the Bird’s Nest during the Good Luck Beijing Athletics Open provided an emotional highlight to the weekend’s events.
The 4×100 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.
Yin reportedly pointed to the name of his province on his jersey and proudly declared “I’m from Sichuan!” at the finish (report).