China's "World Cup" stadium razed to the ground

BEIJING, Feb 13 (Reuters) The Shenyang stadium where China qualified for their only appearance at the World Cup finals has been razed to the ground by more than 2 tonnes of dynamite, local media reported today.

Hundreds of fans gathered to watch Monday's demolition of the 60,000 capacity Wulihe stadium where China beat Oman 1-0 in October 2001 to qualify for the following year's World Cup finals in South Korea and Japan, Beijing Daily reported.

''That qualification match is part of history,'' Ma Mingyu, China's captain in 2001, told the paper. ''But Chinese soccer has plenty to do and we should look to the future.'' The site of the stadium will be redeveloped as a shopping centre, while a new 60,000-seater arena is being built in the northeastern city to host preliminary round matches at the 2008 Olympic soccer tournament.

REUTERS SAM PM0946