体坛英语新闻：Verdicts expected in soccer corruption trials

SHENGYANG, Liaoning Province, June 12 (Xinhua) -- Four different courts in northeast China's Liaoning Province are set to hand down verdicts for former Chinese soccer bosses and national team players on Wednesday.

A court in Dandong is expected to announce a verdict of Nan Yong, the former director of the Chinese Football Administrative Center who was charged with 17 counts of taking bribes worth 1.48 million yuan (about 235,000 U.S. dollars).

Nan's predecessor Xie Yalong, accused of accepting bribes totaling more than 1.7 million yuan (273,000 U.S. dollars), will hear his verdict in Tieling.

During the April's hearing, Xie told the court that he had been tortured into confessing to bribe-taking.

The 56-year-old Xie said that he had been tortured with electric shocks, beaten, and doused with water while being interrogated during investigations.

Liaoning police has denied any wrongdoing in the interrogations.

Four former Chinese international players - Shen Si, Qi Hong, Jiang Jin and Li Ming, charged of taking a total of 8 million yuan (1.27 million U.S. dollars) to fix a league game, will hear their verdicts in Shenyang.

The court in Anshan will read a verdict to Shao Wenzhong, the former general manager of China Football Industry Development Corp.

China's latest wave of crackdown on soccer corruption has brought down dozens of officials, referees, club managers and players.

In trials early this year, referees' chief Zhang Jianqiang, Chinese Football Association vice chairman Yang Yimin and World Cup referee Lu Jun had been sentenced to 12, 10 1/2, and 5 1/2 years in prison respectively on the charges of taking bribes.