China's top sports administration has clarified that there was no misconduct in the bonus distributions among the national diving team.

Zhou Jihong [File photo: sohu.com]

The General Administration of Sport made remarks on Monday in response to an accusation against the national diving team director, Zhou Jihong, for financial misappropriations by former national team coach Yu Fen.

In an interview with Xinhuanet.com, an unnamed official from the supervisory department of the sports administration said the bonus distribution system of the national team is sound and legal.

The official said the department re-examined the records of all 18 bonuses related to Yu, but didn't find any evidence verifying the accusations.

The department informed the coach of the results in April, the official added.

Yu Fen sent a letter to the nation's sports watchdog earlier this year, in which she said around 90 percent of the bonuses she should have received for her players' victories in the international events never went into her pocketbook.

Yu Fen [File photo: sohu.com]

The coach complained that she had been overlooked by the national team and said the team's current director, Zhou Jihong, should be held responsible for the misuse of funds.

The letter was recently exposed online, sparking hot disputes over the establishment of a fair and transparent bonus system.

Yu is well-known in the country for nurturing several Chinese Olympic diving champions, including Fu Mingxia and Guo Jingjing. She left the national team in 1997 before taking the helm of the diving team at Tsinghua University.

The coach applied to return to the national team before the Beijing Olympic Games, but was denied.

China took gold in seven of the eight diving events at the Beijing Olympic Games, losing only in the men's 10-meter platform.

(CRI October 28, 2008)