China to participate Footballgolf World Cup next year

Dai Xianrong, a retired soccer player, kicks a football during the second round of the Mission Hills Footballgolf Championship in Shenzhen on Friday. Qiu Quanlin/chinadaily.com.cn

China will organize a team to participate in the Footballgolf World Cup in Argentina next year, according to organizers of a championship for the fun sport.

"We are promoting this fun sport by providing training and organizing competitions, given that it was introduced to China only a few years ago," said Tenniel Chu, vice chairman of the Mission Hills Group.

The second round of footballgolf championship was held Friday at Mission Hills of Shenzhen, Guangdong province, attracting a number of professional soccer players and celebrities from Guangdong and neighboring Hong Kong.

Footballgolf, an addictively?fun sport that combines golf and soccer, is usually played on golf courses, requiring players to strike a soccer ball and send it into a hole using their feet.

The goal is to play as few kicks per round as possible. The sport's popularity has expanded around the world ever since the rules were standardized in 2009 in the Netherlands, according to the World Footballgolf Association.

There are 28 countries and regions that widely promote the sport, according to Chu.

Dai Xianrong, a retired soccer player, said he developed a huge interest in footballgolf as it is great fun and good exercise.

"More courses should be built in the future to allow more people to take part in the sport," he said.

Sources with Mission Hills said it would organize five championships this year and construction of a public footballgolf course is underway.