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Sun Wen, veteran striker of China's women's national soccer team, says that China is ready to regain its lost pride at the 2007 Women's World Cup to be held on home turf.

"We are gradually building up our confidence and stamina. There were some disastrous moments, but I do believe we are now back on track," said the 33-year-old FIFA's Woman Player of the Century who "enjoyed every minute with soccer."

Sun was said to be lured out of nearly two years of retirement by reappointed coach Ma Liangxing three months ago.

Also as the FIFA's image ambassador, Sun unveiled the official emblem of the fifth women's World Cup before FIFA officials and China's soccer association representatives in Shanghai on Sunday.

Shanghai is one of the five venues for the tournament, along with Chengdu, Guangzhou, Tianjin and Wuhan.

It is the second time for China to host the women's World Cup since the first such event was held in the country in 1991.

China should have hosted the World Cup in 2003 but had to cancel the arrangement at the last minute because of the SARS outbreak.

China's national women's team was a dominant power in the global soccer arena around the beginning of the century.

In 1999, it only lost to the United States in the penalty shootout to take second place in the World Cup tournament.

However, the team's performance declined rapidly after the retirement of a few key veteran players. It slumped to its nadir in 2004 at the Athens Olympics, humiliated by 2003 World Cup winner Germany 8-0.

Last December, China's football association reappointed Ma Liangxing as the head coach of the national women's team, who recalled a few veterans including Sun.

The return of Sun seems to have worked.

It crashed Denmark 6-0 and held the United States to a goalless draw at the Algarve Cup in Portugal last week, although it failed to enter the top four due to its 0-1 loss to Norway.

"We don't have the magic to return to the top overnight, but we are going in the right direction," said Sun.

Sixteen teams including the host China will compete in the coming 2007 World Cup final. The other 15 teams are divided as 2.5 for Asia, 2 for Africa, 2.5 for central and northern America, 2 for South America, 1 for Oceania and 5 for Europe.

"The FIFA Women's World Cup China 2007 will be undoubtedly a festival of football," said Junji Ogura, an executive committee member of FIFA.

There are 40 million young women playing soccer around the world. In addition, more and more people are showing interest in the event.

The number of TV viewers for the last women's World Cup reached 65 million. The number is bound to increase next year, said FIFA officials.

(China Daily, March 22, 2006)