Wang Chunlu Photo: CFP

Wang Chunlu, who just stepped down late Monday as China's short track speed skating team manager, will stay as an official of the ruling body, the authori-ties confirmed Tuesday.

"Wang will take a post at one of the executive departments of our winter sports administrative center, assisting the director in operating training and competitions," the center's spokesman Jiang Shicai told sports.cn during an interview via phone.

"The date when the authorities officially introduce Wang to the new job, however, has not been set," he said.

According to Jiang, Liu Hao, deputy director of the short track department, will take care of the national team until a new team manager is named.

A former Olympic bronze medalist, Wang Chunlu has been transferred from the manager position after an internal brawl with four-time Winter Olympic champion Wang Meng at a training camp based in the eastern Chinese city of Qingdao on July 24.

Wang Chunlu, who was appointed as the team manager after she retired from a successful short track speed skating career, winning three world championship golds and a 2002 Olympic bronze medal, read an open letter Tuesday to apologize for her part in the brawl.

"Our short track national team was once a solid unity, but the recent incident between me and Wang Meng greatly mired the image of the team. I feel deeply sorry to fans and our authorities," said Wang in the statement.

Earlier this month, Wang Meng and teammate Wang Chunlu were expelled from the Chinese national short track team and relegated to provincial team for a drunken brawl with Wang Chunlu.

They had also been banned from international and national competitions.

China's most renowned winter Olympic athlete punched Wang Chunlu after being blamed for not returning on time in a night-out with five teammates.

"After the incident, we realized that there were a lot of problems in the management of the team and senior officials from the winter sports administration center," said a statement released Monday as the winter sports center announced it would transfer Wang Chunlu from the manager position.

"The team manager is responsible for that. We will try to make amendments in team management."

Agencies