Future stars shine at Chinese Youth Games

Fifteen-year-old footballer Yu Junwei has earned a billing as "Junior Ronaldo"; 18-year-old basketball center Shen Zijie has been tipped as a possible successor to legendary Yao Ming.

Promising stars like Yu and Shen shone at the 1st Chinese Youth Games, which was previously the City Games where former Olympic hurdles champion Liu Xiang started his career.

World champion Yang Haoran emerged as the biggest star at the games, winning the 50m rifle three positions with a new world junior record last Friday but only managed a seventh in the 10m air rifle.

"Young shooters are very strong here," said the 19-year-old Yang.

Zhang Yufei, a 200m butterfly bronze medalist at the swimming world championships, also found it difficult to win at the Youth Games. The 17-year-old, widely considered a successor to butterfly queens Liu Zige and Jiao Liuyang, had to settle with a silver in her signature event.

Chen Xinyi and Li Zhuhao were the biggest winners in the pool as they each won three individual golds. The 16-year-old Li is expected to compete with American super star Michael Phelps in the men's 100m butterfly at the Rio Olympics Games, while Chen focuses on the women's 100m fly.

In soccer, Wang Zhen'ao, who trained with Athletic Madrid's youth camp and was nicknamed "Little Messi", will take on "Junior Ronaldo" in a third-place playoff.

In track and field, Mo Youxue, men's 4x100m runner-up at the Beijing athletics worlds, triumphed in 100m and 4x100m.

Mo lost to Liang Jinsheng over 200m. Liang was disqualified in 100m after a false start.

Young sprinters Zheng Xiaoqian, Ma Junyi and Liang Xiaojiang all posted good results.

In basketball, Shen is a star already. With the height of 2.07m and the arm span of 2.20m, Shen is nicknamed "Chinese Bird" by his supporters.

The Chinese Youth Games, a domestic version of the Olympic Youth Games, opened on Oct. 18 and will close on Tuesday. Endi