Special report: 2008 Olympic Games

    BEIJING, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Lack of popularization is a major problem for China to improve the sport of softball, said veteran umpire Sun Bojie, also technical operation manager at the Fengtai softball field here on Friday.

    "The unpopularity hampers the selection of talents," he said.

    In the United States, the softball world tycoon which wrapped up all three Olympic gold medals since softball was included the Olympics in 1996, a national team member was selected from some ten thousand, Sun said.

    But it's a striking contrast for China. Only two major cities of Beijing and Shanghai have their second-string teams and about 10 provinces have provincial teams, said Sun, adding that even in Beijing, there were just six standard softball fields.

    Shortage of fund is another problem. Few competitions, like the national championships, were held regularly across the country, which resulted in inexperience of the players, said Sun, of China's northeastern Heilongjiang province who has officiated the sport as empire since 1974.

    The only Olympic medal won by China's softball team, a silver, came in 1996, before it plunged to fourth in both Sydney and Athens Olympics.

    The Beijing Olympics might be the last chance for the host country to chase its elusive gold as the sport had been voted out of the 2012 Olympic Games by the International Olympic Committee.

    Sun worried that less attention would be paid to the already unpopular sport.

    "In fact, softball is a very interesting game that involves hitting, pitching and running. It is suitable for ordinary people to play," he said, "it should reach to more Chinese people from all walks of life."