By Wang Quanli

At about 0:25 am 9 November local time, international football referee from Nantong Shi Xiang and his partners Ma Ning and Cao Yi arrived at Doha by air, prepared for referee work of Qatar world cup football match. What makes us proud is that Shi Xiang and his partners became the first Chinese referee group which was selected in world cup football match in history.

Shi Xiang was born in Nantong in 1980. In his youth and childhood, he liked sports. In 2000, Shi Xiang was admitted to school of physical education science of Nantong Normal University. In 2014, he was awarded international referee.

In May, Fédération Internationale de Football Association published name list of Qatar world cup referees, including 36 referees, 69 assistant referees and 24 online assistant referees. Chinese referee team formed by Ma Ning, Shi Xiang and Cao Yi is on the list. This time Ma Ning is the referee, Shi Xiang and Cao Yi are assistant referees.