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This is NEWS Plus Special English. I'm Liu Yan in Beijing. Here is the news.
China's sports minister said soccer should not take the place of other sports at school, but rather help lead their development.
Liu Peng, head of China's General Administration of Sports, said promoting soccer at school does not mean it should replace other sports.
He stressed that all sports should be fully developed although soccer does play a special role in leading sports development.
Liu's comments came after media reports that some schools were putting a stop to other sports in order to promote soccer after China unveiled a soccer reform plan.
The ambitious plan was passed a month ago by China's central reform group chaired by President Xi Jinping. The plan aims to increase the number of schools featuring soccer from 5,000 to 20,000 by 2020, and to 50,000 by 2025.
Some media reports cited a statement released by the provincial education department in East China's Shandong province, saying the provincial authorities will suspend basketball and volleyball leagues at universities this year and include soccer in campus tournaments.
The education department later deleted the statement from its official website and denied that they will suspend basketball and volleyball leagues, saying the media had misinterpreted their comments.
