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*** Chinese BMX Bikers Eyes The Wild Cards ***

Taiyuan, China -- 05/31/3008
Chinese BMX bikers eyes wild cards for Beijing Olympics.



As BMX (Bicycle Motocross) racing makes its Olympic debut this
August, Chinese bikers' chance to compete at home looks dim
after they failed to book any berths for the Beijing Olympics at
the UCI BMX world championships here on Saturday.

"I tried my best, but it was still too hard for me to advance to
the next round," said Ma Liyun, who was eliminated from the
first round of the tournament.

According to UCI rules, the top eight female and sixteen male
riders of this tournament will automatically qualify for Beijing
Olympics, and the rest berths will go to riders who topped the
UCI rankings. A total of 24 female and 32 male riders will
compete in the Olympics.

Ma still hopes to compete in Beijing with a wild card.

"Now, the only thing I can do is to keep praying, and hope
that I could get one wild card for the Olympics, " said Ma.

According to UCI rules, there will be three wild
cards being issued for the Beijing Olympics.

"We will write a petition to ask for at least one wild card for
the Olympics, " said Jiang Guofeng, general secretary of the
Chinese Cycling Association.

"The issuing of the three wild cards will be based on promoting
the development of BMX in all over the world and the level of
athletes. China will host the Olympics, and I hope UCI will give
Chinese riders a chance to compete at home," added Jiang.

Starting in late 1960s in California of United States, BMX was
brought to China in late 1990s. China organized its first national
team in 2003 and Ma was enrolled to the team and won China its
first international competition gold in 2003 Asian Championship
in Thailand.

"Even I might be at the top level in Asia, there is still a big margin
between me and the top athletes of Europe and United States. We
had made some progress after four years training and competition,
but there is still a long way to go, " said Ma, who just returned from
training in the United States for almost a month.

In 2003, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) made BMX
part of the competition program of the 2008 Olympic Games. The
BMX event will take place on August 20-21, 2008. The first day will
see qualification competitions for men and women.
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