Ma out of the running

Beijing: China has excluded athletics coach Ma Junren and his team of women long-distance runners from participating in the upcoming Asian Games in Bangkok, the Liberation Daily said yesterday.

'Ma Junren and his Liaoning women's long-distance running team have lost the opportunity to attend the Asian Games this year in Bangkok,' the newspaper quoted Shang Xiutang, vice-chairman of the Chinese track and field federation, as saying.

Shang's explanation for the exclusion of the Liaoning team was that they failed to appear in any national athletics meetings in the first half of the year.