BELGRADE, Reuter: Chinese Centre-half Jia Xuc-huan, 24, won wide praise for his performance in a Yugoslay first division soccer match here on Wednesday night as he made his debut for partizan of Belgrade.
Jia and China’s center-forward Liu Haiguang joined partizan in January under a cultural exchange agreement, becoming the first foreigners ever to play for a Yuboslay Club.
Jia was cheered and applauded in his first game, against Niksic, which Partizan won 1-0, Banner headlines on Thursday said his energy outshone the sluggish Belgrade players and that he was the only Partizan player to work up a sweat.
Jia and Liuare the first exports from China’s up-and-coming national team and will be key men in China’s Olympic squad at Seoul this summer, Liu has still to make his Belgrade debut.
“Jia and his friend came to Belgrade to perfect soccer techniques” the daily newspaper Borba said on Thursday. “But Jia taught Partizan a lesson in how to play soccer and, what’s more important, he fought with dignity for his team’s colour”.
Partizan Captain Ljubomir Radanovie said: “He’s excellent. He has a feel for soccer, a good eye. There’s no need to tell him anything —— give him a look and he’ll know what to do.”
BRIDGETOWN: The loss of four wickets for four runs in a 25-minute period after tea on the second day virtually destroyed the West Indies hopes of a first innings lead in the third test against Pakistan on Saturday.
When stumps were drawn they were floundering at 226-B in reply to Pakistan’s total of 309.
Article extracted from this publication >> April 29, 1988
