The Chinese Basketball Association yesterday unveiled the complete team roster for the upcoming All-Star Game to be held in Shanghai on March 18 when the 44th round of the regular season comes to an end.

Themed, "It's your turn -- you are the star", this year's All-Star Weekend concentrates on the interaction between players and spectators, promising not only an extravagant clash between north and south divisions, but also a three-point shootout, slum dunk competitions and a two-day carnival for fans.

Zhang Liangying, the Super Girls singing sensation who rocked the country last year, and 100 dancers will also be doing their bit to entertain the crowd.

According to the CBA, some 200,000 basketball fans voted for their All-Star team, with former NBA center Mengke Bateer of the Beijing Ducks topping the ballots with 132,291 votes, almost 30,000 more than the second favorite Zhu Fang of the Guangdong Southern Tigers.
 
Also in the North Division starting line-up are forwards Jiao Jian, Xue Yuyang and guards Zhang Yunsong and Lu Xiaoming. The line-up for the South looks very much like the national team's: Guangdong's center Yi Jianlian, and forwards Zhu Fangyu and Dufeng, Shanghai's Liu Wei, point guard at this year's Australian NBL All-star Game, and Jiangsu's Hu Xuefeng.

The game will also see more rookies eager to prove their worth, including Zhang Qingpeng from Liaoning, Jin Qingpeng from Xinjiang, and Wang Shipeng from Guangdong.

Domestic players are increasingly popular with the league. None of the international players made the starting line-up. The last time this happened was in 1995, when the first CBA league was launched with 12 teams.

Okosa Reggie of the Shanghai Sharks isn't too pleased about this: "All my stats are pretty good, aren't they? Why didn't I make it to the starters?"

Last weekend, Reggie blasted opponents with a game-high of 34 points and 16 rebounds. But this wasn't enough to stop the Yunnan Bulls from stealing an away win by the Shanghai Sharks 111-97.

Four round games of the regular season remain. The Southern Conference's Guangdong, Bayi, Jiangsu, and Yunnan have secured their postions in the playoffs while Beijing, Xinjiang, Liaoning and Jilin in the North have eased into the next season.

All-Star Starting line-up:

North:
Coach: Min Lulei
Forward: Jiao Jian (Beijing), Xue Yuyang (Xinjiang)
Center: Mengke Bateer (Beijing)
Guard: Lu Xiaoming (Xinjiang), Zhang Yunsong (Beijing)

South:
Coach: Li Chunjiang
Forward: Du Feng (Guangdong), Zhu Fangyu (Guangdong)
Center: Yi Jianlian (Guangdong)
Guard: Liu Wei (Shanghai), Hu Xuefeng (Jiangsu)

(China.org.cn by Li Xiao, March 7, 2006)