Who's hot, who's not in China sports (Week 1)

CBA: while legend is made, game delayed by rowdy fans

Zhu Fangyu became Chinese Basketball Association's all-time scoring leader in Guangdong S.Tigher's 124-96 blowout win over the Jiangsu Dragons on the first day of 2012. A pull-up trey in the early second quarter marked his 8389th point, two more than the record set by Liu Yudong in 2010.

While the fans were busy with a standing ovation for Zhu's historical night after the game, their compatriots thousands of miles away in Benxi were throwing things at the court, in response to what they thought were the referee's bad calls in the Beijing-Liaoning game that was on China Central Television. The chaos delayed the game eight minutes, and the home team was fined 30,000 yuan for poor security measures.

My spin: The penalty should have been tougher. A scuffle is the worst thing that happens to a game, if we presume it is one worth watching. The fans, on the other hand, need their share of patience and to learn to express their negative feelings in a more civilized way.

 

What's the buzz

Li Na refuses slow start

China stumbles in the Hopman Cup, as usual. And the only pleasant part is that Li Na seems in good shape, as she dropped Marion Bartoli of France, Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain and Australia's Jarmila Gajdosovain the first three rounds. With the Australian Open coming up on Jan 16, fans have a reason to believe that last year's runner-up is ready to make some noise then.

Liu Xiang plays down ambition

The famous Chinese hurdler says he has regained his top form in the difficult past year. The transition in his technique, namely the reduction in his number of starting steps before the first hurdle, from eight to seven, is the “wisest decision” he has ever made. Speaking of his expectations at the London Olympics, Liu say he will not set any goal, and having fun is the only thing that matters. Liu Xiang's first game in 2012 will be an indoor hurdler competition in Birmingham on Feb 18.

China's Sun honored by Manchester City

Sun Jihai and his family were invited by Manchester City, a top-tier English Premier League football club, to watch the club's home game against Liverpool. The club hailed Sun as “China's biggest football star of the past 20 years” and gave away a No 130 jersey to mark his contribution throughout 130 games he played for the team.

Ding Junhui continues roll

Too exciting that Ding Junhui had three maximum breaks in just half a month, too sad that the third one will not count, for it was made at an exhibition game. Ding Wenjun, father of Ding Junhui, opened his second snooker club in Shanghai on Monday, and the son had a perfect way to say congrats.

Yao Ming covers GQ China

Half a year after his retirement from the game, Yao Ming shares new stories of his life transition with Gentlemen's Quarterly China.

Click here to see more cool photos of Yao Ming in the upscale magazine.