介绍:
Malaysia favors Lee Chong-wei for World Championships
Malaysia has selected Lee Chong-wei for the World Championships in August in Jakarta despite his low ranking.
Lee has mixed feelings about getting the chance at the expense of teammate Chong Wei Feng, who is higher-placed.
"I am a player, and I understand Chong Wei Feng must be very sad now. As for me, I will try my best to play in the World Championships. It's not easy to have this chance because my ranking is just the third in Malaysia, but anyway, I will give all my effort to fight for a good result in the men's singles event."
Come-back kid Lee Chong-wei helped Malaysia win 3-2 against India and reached the quarterfinals at the Sudirman Cup in Dongguan.
Lee defeated Srikanth Kidambi 21-16, 21-15 with what he said was only "70 percent" of his best form.
President of Malaysia's Badminton Association Tengku Ariff said Lee Chong Wei was chosen as he still has the potential to win the championship.
Guangzhou Evergrande drop to 3rd in Asia club rankings
Over in football,
Runners up in the Chinese Super League Guangzhou Evergrande have dropped from first to third place in club rankings in Asia.
They are at 96th place worldwide, according the latest update by footballdatabase.com after last week's game.
Guangzhou Evergrande suffered a 2-0 loss against Western Sydney Wanderers at the AFC Champions League, but massacred Shanghai Shenxin in the domestic league.
Saudi Arabia's Al Hilal and South Korea's Jeonbuk are the top two in Asia.
For other Chinese clubs, Beijing Guo'an are 16th in Asia, up three places; and League leaders Shanghai SIPG are 61st.
Pep Guardiola won't leave Bayern, believes in hope in UEFA Champions League
Anchor:
Bayern Munich coach Pep Guardiola has spoken up about his rumored move to Manchester City, and Bayern's upcoming second leg against Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League semifinals.
CRI's Fu Yu with more.
Reporter:
Guardiola, finally fed up with the spiraling rumors, has down right denied that he is transferring to Manchester City next season, something that he had repeated time and again at Bayern headquarters.
"Oh, boys. At S?bener Street I have said 200 million times that I have a year left on my contract. I will be here next season and that 's all there is to it."
Guardiola will not let that bother him at a time when his team is holding on to the last shred of hope in the UEFA Champions League.
After suffering a 3-0 loss against Barcelona in leg one, they have to win by at least four goals to reach the final in Berlin.
Guardiola believes his boys have the qualities to at least try to do that.
"I think these players have shown they want and they're able to do it. But I'm a coach and I have to be realistic. After 3-0 in Barcelona, the goal is quite huge but very stimulating. It's a huge challenge for me as coach, and of course for the players."
It may not be impossible, after Bayern overturned a two-goal deficit in the quarterfinals and knocked out Porto.
Forward Thomas Mueller is convinced of their capabilities, but knows it won't be easy.
"We still believe in ourselves, we don't know if things will turn out the way they did against Porto, but that's our goal, because we need that."
Bayern and Barcelona will fight for one of the spots in the final early tomorrow morning.
For CRI, im Fu Yu.
La Liga calls for meeting to solve stike issue
Spain's La Liga president Javier Tebas has called for a meeting with the Spanish Soccer Federation and players' union to end threats to halt the football season.
Tebas said the exclusive meeting within the collective bargain must respect the legislation approved in cabinet.
He also called the strike illegal, after a meeting with heads of professional soccer clubs.
"It is an 'a la carte strike'. It is a strike to hurt La Liga and those kinds of strikes are forbidden. They are only aiming to hurt the league and hence we are complaining."
The Soccer Federation earlier pledged to suspend matches over disputes with the government on new broadcasting rights.
The league is awaiting court rulings after they filed lawsuits against the Federation.
NBA playoffs: Atlanta, Golden State tie series 2-2
In the NBA playoffs,
The Atlanta Hawks beat the Washington Wizards 106-101 to level their series 2-2 in the Eastern Conference semi-finals.
Atlanta coach Mike Budenholzer said their secret for winning was to be aggressive on defence.
Paul Millsap, who had 19 points, six assists and five rebounds for Atlanta, expressed his satisfaction with the victory.
"You know, 30 assists, the way we played defense, the way we stepped up, the way we helped each other, the way we moved the basketball, the way we set screens, we were more physical, we were more aggressive. And against a team like this, who strives off of being aggressive, it was good that we stepped up and matched that today."
The series continues on Thursday morning Beijing time.
In the Western Conference,
The Golden State Warriors also tied it at two games apiece with a 101-84 win over the Memphis Grizzlies.
MVP Stephon Curry had 33 points, eight rebounds and five assists.
Golden State will host Game 5 on Thursday morning Beijing time.
Michael Matthews wins Giro stage 3 in pink
Finally in cycling,
Orica Green-edge's Michael Matthews won stage three at the Giro d'Italia in the leader's pink jersey and consolidated his overall lead.
It had been a great Giro for Matthews and Orica, who had kept pink in their grasp since winning the opening team time trial.
"It's been dream come true so far for this Giro d'Italia this year. We planned for the team's time trial win and this was another goal for us, this was stage three and, we reckoned it last week, so we knew what was coming and we knew what to expect. So, yes, from then on it was just try and, try and do as best as we could and yes, we pulled it off."
The race had its first heavy casualty as Italian Domenico Pozzovivo was sent to the hospital following a high-speed crash.
Race doctor later described his condition serious but under control.
In the Tour of California,
Mark Cavendish took another victory in stage two to extend his lead to eight seconds in the eight-day race.
