Four table tennis players have been dismissed from China's national team for dating teammates.
The players were sacked because their behaviour affected their performance and daily training, state media reported yesterday.
'This year is an Olympic year. The new year must have a new starting point, and that is stricter management,' Cai Zhenhua, China's head coach since 1997, reportedly said during a closed-door meeting with team members on Saturday to announce the dismissals, which happened on Friday.
'As athletes, you have to make every sacrifice that is required for your career,' Cai added, as the national team members headed for intensive training camps to prepare for the 2004 Athens Olympics.
The sacked players are:
Bai Yang, 19, girlfriend of world No 1 male player Ma Lin. She was sent back to play on the Hebei provincial team.