Here are the need to know sports stories from the past week:
Chinese Men’s Table Tennis Team Withdrawn from Australian Open
The Chinese Table Tennis Association (CTTA) has withdrawn the Chinese men’s team for the upcoming Seamaster 2017 ITTF World Tour Platinum Australian Open. However, the Chinese women’s team will still be competing in the $400,000 event being held in Australia. Last week, triple Olympic gold medallist Ma Long and two other well-known national players from the China squad have said they would take no further part in the China Open being played in Chengdu because they miss their coach Liu Guoliang, who was removed from his post after more than a decade at the helm. Read more on The Daily Mail (English)
Sina Sports Partners with Wimbledon Championships
Chinese media giant Sina Sports has confirmed an agreement with the All England Lawn Tennis Club to become an official partner of the Wimbledon championships for the next three years. The agreement will commence from the 2017 tournament and will run until 2019. In turn, Sina will help to promote the championships in China, delivering news, highlights, live scores, and other exclusive content via its popular Sina Sports and Sina Weibo social media platforms. Furthermore, Sina will offer Chinese tennis fans the chance to directly interact with the stars of Wimbledon in Q&A sessions hosted on Weibo. Read more on SportsPro (English)
CBA Shakeup: Playoffs Expanded to 10 Teams
CBA League (Beijing) Sports Company has released a new competition system: from 2017 to 2022, the league will include 20 teams. In 2017/18 season, there will be 10 teams competing in the playoffs, however from 2018/19 season, the number will increase to 12. Meanwhile, over the next five years, the regular season schedule will be gradually extended. Read more on Sina Sports (Chinese)
Tencent Takeover LeSports’ Tour De France Broadcasting Right
Tencent Sports has announced it will become the official digital media partner of Le Tour De France. Tencent will live-stream the entire race in July through its multiple channels. The digital broadcasting rights were originally owned by LeSports, however, earlier this week, LeSports made the announcement that the company will not provide Tour De France broadcasting content any longer due to their recent financial woes. Read more on Tencent (Chinese)
PwC Becomes CFA’s Official Financial Advisor
The CFA (Chinese Football Association) has hired PwC as the official financial advisor to review the financial situations of 32 CSL (Chinese Super League) and CLO (China League One) clubs. This is to strengthen the clubs’ financial supervision and improve clubs’ operational capacity. According to media, following the new CFA transfer fee regulations, all 32 teams are expected to make a loss this year. Read more on Lanxiong (Chinese), or read more about the recent transfer fee rule changes. (English)
Visa Issues FIFA Credit Card with CITIC Bank
China CITIC Bank and Visa recently announced the release of the “CITIC Bank FIFA 2018 World Cup Visa credit card”, which is the first 2018 World Cup themed credit card issued in the Asia-Pacific region. Read more on Lanxiong (Chinese)
Vivo Extends IPL Sponsorship Contract by Five Years
On Tuesday, Chinese mobile manufacturer Vivo extended their title sponsorship contract with the lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL) by five more years. According to a statement made by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the China-based company made a bid of $330 million to secure the deal, which represents a staggering 554% increase on the previous contract. Read more on SportsPro (English)
ANTA Extends Endorsement Contract with Klay Thompson to 2027
China sporting goods brand ANTA has recently extended its endorsement contract with Golden State Warriors shooting guard Klay Thompson until the 2026/27 season. Klay Thompson joined ANTA in February 2015. According to the media, the average endorsement fee of the new contract is close to $10 million per year. Read more on Lanxiong (Chinese)
Chinese Businessman Buys 60% Stake In Serie B Side, Parma
Chinese businessman and DeSports owner Jiang Lizhang has agreed to buy a 60% stake in Serie B side Parma. Jiang already owns Spanish La Liga club Grenada and is the co-owner of the Minnesota Timberwolves NBA franchise. Read more on Global Times (English)
Li-Ning Partners With Houston Rockets
China sporting goods company Li-Ning this week became the official partner of Houston Rockets. Li-Ning will work with the Rockets in basketball tournament development, youth training programs and youth sports equipment research. Read more on SportsMoney (Chinese)
Bright Dairy Acquires Shanghai Women’s Volleyball Team
Bright Dairy has announced the RMB 10 million acquisition of the Shanghai women’s volleyball team, thus adopting the name ‘Shanghai Youbei Women’s Volleyball Club’, named after the milk product. Bright Dairy is the official sponsor of China Women’s National Volleyball Team, yet this acquisition makes them the first Chinese dairy company to acquire a sports club. Read more on SportsMoney (Chinese)
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