Football coach on death count

By Chen Qian  |   2009-8-20  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

A FOOTBALL coach in Chongqing Municipality has been arrested for beating a student to death.

He faces trial for manslaughter with the maximum sentence, a death penalty, Shanghai Evening Post reported yesterday.

The student, Mu Shihao, 13, from Guizhou Province, died on Monday night after being in a coma for 25 days, the report said.

The hospital gave him shock treatment three times in vain efforts to revive him.

Mu was kicked in the chest by coach Lin Lin during training on July 24.

His head hit the ground after he fell and he was kicked twice again by Lin, according to witnesses.

Lin asked Mu and his classmates to run seven times around the ground at 10am in heat of 39 degrees Celsius.

Mu did three laps and went to the toilet until all other students finished the full course. This irritated the coach, the report said.

Mu fell into a coma after the kicking.

Lin called Mu's mother later that day saying the student fell during training. He admitted the crime to Mu's parents three days later, the report said.

Lin is well known in Chongqing as "a coach with a bad temper," according to the newspaper report.