Cheerleader competition kicks off

The 2011 Tsingtao Beer NBA Cheerleader Competition was launched last week.

The first stage of the event will be held in eight zones across about 130 cities in China. The winner will be crowned "China's Top Cheerleader". The top six finishers will share prize money of 1 million yuan ($153,984) and will head off for training in the United States and perform during NBA matches.

This is the third time such a competition has been staged by CCTV-5, Tsingtao Beer and NBA China. Following the first two competitions, 16 cheerleaders were sent to the US and they performed at games in Cleveland, Los Angeles and Miami.