Sources from the National Physical Public Tender Meeting in Changsha say that altogether 574 sports contests will be held in China coming year and of these 256 will be formal contests between athletes at home, 215 supplementary, and 103 on an international scale.

Sports authorities say all 2001 contests will be mapped as of old. The most important contests in the coming year will be the 9th National Sports Meet and 29 preliminaries to be held.

Wu Zhangshou, chief of the Athletic Sports Department of the State General Administration of Sports, said a series of measures will be adopted by it to make the 9th National Sports Meet a complete success.

When public bid tendering of the 9th National Sports Meet is projected every province or city is permitted to hold at most two events. Boxing, gym, artistic gymnastics, bed-jumping, judo, diving, water ballet, taekwondo, wrestling, and Wushu (martial arts) will be categorized as special events. Host teams will not be permitted to play in soccer and basketball preliminaries.

Wu specially emphasized that the State General Administration of Sports will insist still on a ban on using stimulants and carry out drug and blood tests on athletes to ensure the 9th National Sports Meet a pure and fair contest.

(People's Daily 11/14/2000)