Tag Archives: Sebastian Vettel

Introducing: Second Gear

As the first of a new series of podcasts (and, soon, videocasts/TV shows) that I’ll be hosting with Sean Henshelwood, Second Gear aims to be an unvarnished look at the Asian motorsport scene. For all the undoubted opportunities of the Asian market, it sometimes feels like the sport doesn’t get out of second gear – hence the name – so in addition to all the latest news and analysis, we’ll also be talking about what needs to be done to take the sport to the next level.

Issues discussed on this episode include:

  1. Chinese Formula 1 Grand Prix:
  2. Liberty Media’s plans for a second Chinese race:
    • The issues with building a sustainable track in China capable of holding an F1 race
    • How soon could this realistically happen?
  3. Fernando Alonso announces plans to build 40 go kart tracks in China over the next five years:
    • Is it achievable?
    • Can it produce China’s first F1 star?

[Photo credit above: 6th GEAR]

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Ping pong boss to China: starting losing please!

It used to be that sports were run by sportsmen and women. But then, as is often the case, money got in the way and sports became more “professional”, so “professionals” were hired to run the sports.

For example, the head of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) used to be former star Chinese player Xu Yinsheng, until he was replaced in 1999 by a “professional”, an electrical engineer called Adham Sharara. The Egyptian-born Canadian also played on the national team for three years, but his biography makes it clear he is a career administrator who played, rather than top player-turned-administrator.

15 years later, Sharara is still in charge and coming out with gems like this:

Continue reading Ping pong boss to China: starting losing please!