Who's hot, who's not in China Sports (Dec17-23)

HOT

Lin Dan

We have given Super Dan as many accolades as we can in our previous issues, but once more he challenges us on rhetoric. After sinking teammate Chen Long in the final at the BWF World Series Finals on Sunday, he completed a super "Grand Slam," which has never been done by anyone before. Frankly speaking, Lin has nothing more to prove that he is the greatest player of his generation. All he needs to do is get the gold at the London Olympics next year, which will certainly make him the undeniable GOAT.

Ding Junhui

Despite suffering an eight-finals exit at PTC 11 on Monday, Ding still shot into the public eye by making his maximum break twice in three days last week. Only Ronnie O'Sullivan, Stephen Hendry and John Higgins have more 147s, and…they have a combined age of 113, almost quintuple the age of the Chinese snooker ace.

Ding Wenjun, speaking to the media about his son's achievement, said that Ding Junhui has "never had lows in his career." If I were him, I would say it this way: "He hasn't reached his peak yet."

You can watch his 4th 147 here.?

Li Na

Li Na, with 14-time Grand Slam champion Pete Sampras, former French Open champion Carlos Moya and 2011 Wimbledon semifinalist Sabine Lisicki, provided a lot of entertainment at a two-day tennis exhibition in her hometown Wuhan in Central China over the weekend. If memory serves right, only Yao Ming hosted a similar event and invited overseas stars to join in. This may be a catalyst to the nation's tennis industry indeed.

NOT

Robert Donewald Jr

He is still at the helm of the Chinese men's basketball team, but failed to please fans of Xinjiang Flying Tigers, runner-up in last season, with an embarrassing 7-4 record. As a result, Donewald, less than three months after he moved to Xinjiang, was sacked by the team, who hired Jiang Xingquan, a former national team coach, to assume the job. There are reports that he was doomed early in the season, when the fiery-tempered American had quarrels with some brass and asked them to stay out of his coaching business.

Yang Yimin, Zhang Jianqiang, Lu Jun, et al

This is a list of probably more than 60 former Chinese soccer officials and referees, as the long-waited nation's biggest sports-related trial kicked off on Monday morning. Zhang Jianqiang, former director of the Chinese Football Association's (CFA) referee committee and former women's soccer chief, became the first defendant in Tieling, facing charges of taking bribes of up to 2.73 million yuan.

Yang Yimin, former deputy head of both the Chinese Football Association (CFA) and the Chinese Football Administrative Center, and Lu Jun, the best-known Chinese referee who officiated at World Cup and Olympic games, stood trial separately in Tieling and Dandong on Monday.

Follow China Daily Website's special coverage on China's soccer clampdown here.