Ma on line

BEIJING: Disgraced athletics coach Ma Junren, hurled off the Chinese Olympic team days before the Games after suspicious blood tests by his athletes, is still pulling some strings in Sydney from home, it was reported Tuesday.

quot;Ma Junren is remote controlling Sydney,quot; said the Beijing Morning Post on Tuesday, indicating Ma had not been completely ostracised from China8217;s Olympic set-up despite the scandal. The paper said Ma was in daily telephone contact with the man who replaced him as China8217;s chief athletics coach, the director of Liaoning province8217;s Sports bureau Cui Daling. It said the pair were working together to fine tune the preparations of 10,000m runner Li Ji, the only one of the seven members of quot;Ma8217;s family Armyquot; of female distance runners who was not expelled from the team.