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Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Dong gets Olympic nod

Dong Fangzhuo has been named in China's under-23 squad for this summer's Olympic Games in Beijing.

The United striker missed the last three months of the 2007/08 season with a knee injury sustained in a Reserves match against Blackburn in February.

But the 23-year-old proved he was back to full fitness by scoring in China's 4-0 warm-up victory over Malaysia last weekend.

He has now taken his place alongside Charlton's Zheng Zhi – one of three permitted over-age players – in the 22-man party for the tournament, which takes place from August 6-23.

Dong is likely to come up against Reds team-mate Anderson in Beijing as China have been drawn against Brazil, New Zealand and Belgium in Group C.

Should China progress to the latter stages of the tournament, Dong will miss the start of the first-team season but will return in time for the Reserves' new campaign, which gets underway on September 18.

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