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China chief hurt by arrest of referee

Lu, who officiated in two matches at the 2002 World Cup finals in South Korea and Japan, was dubbed the "golden whistle" for his supposed integrity when China was in the thrall of the earlier "black whistles" scandal some eight years ago.

"I was really shocked and hurt when Lu's name cropped up in the scandal," Wei told Soccer News. "He is undoubtedly a first-rate referee in terms of working ability, but his morals are a far cry from his 'golden whistle' reputation."

The CFA have made the integrity of match officials a central plank in their attempts to reform the game and more than 200 referees were last week sent on a five-day "Anti-corruption Rectification Education Camp". Wei said in future the selection of referees for matches would be an independent process.

"We will adopt a new mechanism to improve our management. No leader of the Chinese Football Association, including me, can decide which referee to use," he said.

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