BEIJING, July 6 (Xinhua) -- Here are the latest Chinese sports headlines from the past week:
1. Defending champion Gong leads China's athletics squad for Paris 2024
Olympic Women's shot put champion Gong Lijiao will lead China's athletics squad at the Paris Olympics, as the Chinese Athletics Association announced the roster for Paris on July 4.
The 54-strong squad - equally split with 27 men and 27 women - also includes former women's discus world champion Feng Bin, former men's long jump world champion Wang Jianan, and women's 20km race walk Olympic gold medalists Liu Hong and Qieyang Shijie.
Olympic javelin champion Liu Shiying and star sprinter Su Bingtian will miss the quadrennially sports extravaganza.
2. China's Wang Xinyu stunned 5th seed Pegula at Wimbledon
Wang Xinyu of China staged a surprise to eliminate world No. 5 Jessica Pegula 6-4, 6-7 (7), 6-1 to reach the women's singles third round at Wimbledon for the first time on July 4.
Her compatriot Zhu Lin also reached third round, but was defeated 7-6(4), 7-6(6) by New Zealand qualifier Lulu Sun, who ousted China's eighth seed Zheng Qinwen 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 in the first round.
In men's singles, Zhang Zhizhen and Shang Juncheng both bowed out in the second round.
3. Young Chinese shuttler dies after collapsing on court at Asian Junior Championships
China's 17-year-old Zhang Zhijie passed away after suddenly collapsing on the court during a group match at the Badminton Asia Junior Championships held in Yogyakarta, Indonesia on July 1.
Players observing a moment of silence in memory of Zhang in the following matches and his teammate ascended the podium with his jersey during the award ceremony on July 2.
The Badminton World Federation (BWF) announced on the same day that a comprehensive review is underway into the emergency response following the tragic death of Zhang.
4. China suffers back-to-back loss to Australia in pre-Olympic women's basketball clash
China's women's basketball team suffered two consecutive defeats to lower-ranked Australia in a week in pre-Olympic warm-up series.
Without star forward Li Meng and center Li Yueru, China lost to host Australia 94-66 in the first round of the series on July 3 and was again outperformed by the Aussies 91-63 in the second encounter on July 5.
5. China awarded AFC Grassroots Charter Gold membership
The Chinese Football Association (CFA) has become a gold-level member of the AFC Grassroots Charter, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) announced on July 2.
The AFC Grassroots Charter, launched in 2018, serves as the primary system for promoting grassroots football development among its 47 member associations. The CFA was initially certified as a silver-level member and is now the eighth gold-level member of the program, joining associations including Australia, Japan, and South Korea.■
