China has announced an 18-member provisional squad for the forthcoming Toulon Festival of Football tournament in France.

 

Dalian's Feng Xiaoting is noticeably missing from the list due to an injury. Mao Biao and Song Junmin, two key players from Tianjin Taida, have also been excluded as the club has insisted on saving them for the domestic China Super League tournament.

 

The 18 players on the roster will meet on Thursday for a training session in Beijing before heading for France on Friday.

 

The 8-nation tournament will be staged from May 15 to 24 in France. China is grouped with Argentina, the Czech Republic and Portugal while France, Netherland, Mexico and Colombia are in the other group.

 

(CRI May 9, 2006)