FORMER Olympic host cities are littered with white elephants built in a construction frenzy that precedes the Games, but Beijing is confident its sparkling venues will not meet the same fate. The challenge is illustrated by Athens, where nearly all the venues built for the 2004 Games now lie empty and continue to cost millions […]

Elsewhere, the Williams sisters moved closer to another potential final showdown, using their power tennis to cruise into the semifinals in straight sets. Defending champion and four-time winner Venus Williams beat Thailand’s Tamarine Tanasugarn 6-4, 6-3, and two-time champ Serena swept 19-year-old Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland 6-4, 6-0. The Williams sisters are in opposite halves […]

AN express bus line from Guangming New Zone to Shenzhen’s CBD began running Friday. Running from Futian Bus Station to Gongming Bus Station, the 10 shuttle buses on the 46.2-kilometer route pass through some of the city’s major roads including Binhe Thoroughfare, Xinzhou Road, North Ring Road, Fulong Road and Longda Expressway with stops at […]

      WANG JUE had dreamed of becoming an Olympic volunteer for three years, from the day in July 2005 when he learned he had been accepted to a university in Beijing. After taking 160 hours of classes over five semesters, in subjects ranging from Olympic history to journalism, he at last got the chance […]

Newman Huo AMERICAN artist John R. Hobby believes teaching art to Chinese children in Shenzhen has not only rejuvenated him but also inspired him in his own artistic creation. Hobby, 60, teaches art and English to Chinese students, aged 4 to 16, at the Shenzhen Children’s Palace in Futian District at weekends and spends weekdays […]

RAFAEL NADAL will become No. 1 in the rankings today, and he is No. 1 at the Olympics. The Spaniard won a gold medal yesterday, overcoming two set points in the second set and holding every service game to beat Fernando Gonzalez of Chile 6-3, 7-6 (2), 6-3. The gold medal was the first ever […]

REAL Madrid won the Spanish Super Cup for the first time since 2003 with a 4-2 win at home over Valencia with goals by Ruud van Nistelrooy, Sergio Ramos, Ruben de la Red and Gonzalo Higuian. The Spanish champions headed into the return leg of the tournament — which is contested each year between the […]

     Rafael Nadal of Spain holds the national flag of Spain at the awarding ceremony of the men’s singles gold medal match of Beijing Olympic Games tennis event against Fernando Gonzalez of Chile in Beijing, China, Aug. 17, 2008. Nadal won the match 3-0 and claimed the title in this event.(Xinhua/Xing Guangli)     Spaniard tennis […]

LITHUANIA shattered China’s hope of making history on home soil by winning 94-68 in a quarterfinal match of the men’s basketball competitions at the Beijing Olympics yesterday. Lithuania will meet Spain, which beat Croatia 72-59 in a previous match, in the semifinals. China repeated their eighth-place finish at the 2004 Athens Olympics, but failed to […]

CHINA’S Li Na and Zheng Jie reached the third round of the U.S. Open tennis tournament in New York on Wednesday. Li rallied to beat Sara Errani of Italy 4-6, 6-2, 6-0 while Zheng Jie eased past Spain’s Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-1, 6-4. Even though Li lost to eventual silver medalist Dinara Safina at the […]