Basketball star envious of nation’s football plan
Print Edition
FORMER NBA star Yao Ming said China’s bid to revive the popularity of football in schools was on the right track and could even attract envy from other sports.
Last month, China’s central reform leading group, headed by football fan President Xi Jinping, kicked off a plan to improve its football performance, something that has proved a national embarrassment in recent years.
More efforts would be made at grassroots level to nurture young talent and to ensure the integration of professional clubs, school teams and amateur teams, it said.
“I am very glad to see that school football has been included in the plan,” said Yao, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. “It is a very correct decision.
“As one who is from the circle of basketball, I must say that I am very envious,” he told a press conference on the sidelines of the annual session of the top political advisory body.
“I hope to see more details about how to implement the plan including the roles that different departments and sectors would play in promoting the reform,” he said.
“The biggest problem of China’s football is that it is too far from schools,” he said. “Any cultivation of talent, without the basis of school education, would not be realistic or sustainable.
“I hope there will be another plan that promotes basketball in schools in the near future,” he added.
China’s national team has failed to qualify for the World Cup for the past decade.
The reform group said a “defective system” which had impeded the sport’s development.
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