Play Ball! program fires up ba

Play Ball! program fires up baseball enthusiasm in China

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By Sportswriter Cao Jianjie

BEIJING, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- Three months after first pulling on a glove, Liu Guoliang has turned his back on China's national sport and fallen love with baseball.

"Baseball is much more fun than table tennis," said the 11-year- old Liu, who used to idolize his Olympic table tennis champion namesake and now dreams of playing in a Major League club in the United States.

"My kid is crazy about baseball since I took him to an MLB Baseball Park in October last year," said Liu Wenzhong, an avid sports fan who named his son after the 1996 Olympic champion, hoping the junior Liu would make it to the Olympic podium someday.

The American game also lured Liu's classmates Xiao Qi and Wang Xiaoqiang away from their previously favorite sport - badminton.

"Baseball is more exciting than any other game," said Xiao, who confessed to keep a baseball glove beside his pillow.

Baseball is not ready to replace table tennis in the world's most populous country despite the change of allegiance by schoolboys like Liu and Xiao. But one fact is undeniable: baseball has exploded in popularity in China, thanks to the Major League Baseball's Play Ball! China program supervised by Xie Long (Leon Xie), Managing Director of MLB China.

Four million Chinese play baseball and more than 60 Chinese universities and colleges and 1,000 high and primary schools have their own teams, according to the Chinese Baseball Association (CBA).

A TNS Sports Asia survey shows 16.2 percent of the Chinese population are interested in baseball and about 1 percent are loyal baseball fans. Also, up to 26 percent of Chinese are interested in MLB and its merchandise and the majority of them are young, highly educated and have well-paid jobs.

"Baseball has a bright future in China," said Xie Long. "What MLB China is doing is to get more people playing baseball in China."

MLB launched its grassroots youth baseball program, Play Ball!, in five cities across China in 2007. The program has been incorporated into the physical education curriculum porsche watches for students aged eight-to-12 in 120 elementary schools in Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Chengdu and Wuxi.

Play Ball! China has reached more than 400,000 people since its launch. The participating students have been introduced to the rules of the game and instructed on developing their baseball skills as part of their in-school physical education programs.

"It was a very good start and we plan to attract more Chinese youth to take part in the Play Ball! program," said Xie, who announced the Baseball Park would tour 10 more cities in China in 2010, bringing the total to 15.

MLB is also thinking about cultivating a baseball equivalent of NBA star Yao Ming. That's why MLB has decided to work with the nation's education and sports departments to promote the sport in public schools and communities, hoping to reach millions of Chinese youngsters and find and nurture future talent.

The MLB Baseball Development ed hardy Center (MLBDC), a baseball academy established in Wuxi, Jiangsu province, in September, is the cream of the crop of such cooperation.

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