Veteran paddler Cai to take over as CFA chief
By Wang Xiang |
July 31, 2010, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
CHINESE table tennis great and former coach Cai Zhenhua is being roped in to head the scandal-tainted Chinese Football Association.
The 48-year-old Cai will take over from Yuan Weimin, who headed the association for more than a decade. Yuan as much as admitted in his own memoir that he rarely looked after the interests of soccer while on the job.
"It is only a matter of time before Cai takes over the chair," the sports newspaper Titan Weekly reported yesterday.
When Cai coached the Chinese national table tennis team, he was known for his unorthodox training methods and his zest for football. Soccer was part of the regime for all his paddlers, while he was also known to take to the pitch himself at some point of training. But for all his zest for soccer, it remains to be seen how he handles his new charge, which has divided opinions in world of sports.
Liu Guoliang, who trained under Cai and is the current coach of the men's national table tennis team, said there was a world of difference being a table tennis coach and a football official.
"In ping-pong, every Chinese coach has a success story and good experience to share, but in football, we only have shame and failure," Liu said.
Chinese football has been embroiled in scandals -- from gambling to corruptions -- for some years now. In a nationwide crackdown earlier this year, three top officials, including former CFA vice-chairmen Nan Yong and Yang Yimin, were arrested over bribery charges. The former referees' director Zhang Jianqiang is also in the slammer.
Wei Di was named the deputy head of CFA six months ago and has since been the face of the national soccer. He is likely to run the everyday affairs of the association under Cai.
China is ranked 78th in the world -- behind countries like Belarus and Uganda.
The 48-year-old Cai will take over from Yuan Weimin, who headed the association for more than a decade. Yuan as much as admitted in his own memoir that he rarely looked after the interests of soccer while on the job.
"It is only a matter of time before Cai takes over the chair," the sports newspaper Titan Weekly reported yesterday.
When Cai coached the Chinese national table tennis team, he was known for his unorthodox training methods and his zest for football. Soccer was part of the regime for all his paddlers, while he was also known to take to the pitch himself at some point of training. But for all his zest for soccer, it remains to be seen how he handles his new charge, which has divided opinions in world of sports.
Liu Guoliang, who trained under Cai and is the current coach of the men's national table tennis team, said there was a world of difference being a table tennis coach and a football official.
"In ping-pong, every Chinese coach has a success story and good experience to share, but in football, we only have shame and failure," Liu said.
Chinese football has been embroiled in scandals -- from gambling to corruptions -- for some years now. In a nationwide crackdown earlier this year, three top officials, including former CFA vice-chairmen Nan Yong and Yang Yimin, were arrested over bribery charges. The former referees' director Zhang Jianqiang is also in the slammer.
Wei Di was named the deputy head of CFA six months ago and has since been the face of the national soccer. He is likely to run the everyday affairs of the association under Cai.
China is ranked 78th in the world -- behind countries like Belarus and Uganda.
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