All posts by Mark Dreyer

Football

Why Chinese soccer fans deserve better

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Roads & Kingdoms has an excellent long-form piece by Gabrielle Jaffe profiling the fans of Chinese Super League team Beijing Guoan, exploring the history of the beautiful game in China and delving into the culture of supporter groups around the country.

China has a higher proportion of female football fans than many other countries
China has a higher proportion of female football fans than many other countries

For those unfamiliar with the capital’s sole CSL team, Beijing Guoan’s crowds last season would rank them eighth in the current list of English Premier League average attendances – above Everton, Spurs and West Ham.

There are lots of highlights, including this:

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Motorsport

China’s F1 antipathy a constant in season of flux

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Formula 1 is a state of flux right now. Aside from all the massive rule changes for this season, Ferrari boss Stefano Domenicali quit this week, there’s due to be a new US-based team from 2015 and three of the existing teams are reported to be meeting in Shanghai on Thursday to discuss how to make their engines louder, after those new regulations sucked some of the noise out of the sport.

China Grand Prix 2014-2-non_pre_0But the one constant that remains is China’s antipathy to Grand Prix racing. The race at the Shanghai International Circuit on Sunday will be the 11th consecutive Chinese Grand Prix held there, with current or former world champions winning eight out of the previous 10 races. But after the initial buzz, reality set in.

Here are some of the problems:

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Chinese language, Snooker

中国斯诺克选手距离伟大咫尺之遥

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获得斯诺克世界冠军的79个人中有76人来自英国和爱尔兰，2位来自澳大利亚，1位来自加拿大。但是来自中国的丁俊晖以出色的发挥夺得了今年的斯诺克中国公开赛的冠军，让斯诺克的历史上出现了来自中国的世界冠军。

China's Ding plays a shot during his match against Williams of Wales in the final of the 2010 World Snooker China Open in Beijing Continue reading 中国斯诺克选手距离伟大咫尺之遥 →

Basketball

Brooklyn Nets, Sacramento Kings heading to China

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The NBA’s Global Games schedule is out for 2014 and the upshot for Chinese fans is this: Nets vs Kings in Shanghai on October 12, before the same teams play in Beijing on October 15.

NBA presseason game Beijing China 2013 Continue reading Brooklyn Nets, Sacramento Kings heading to China →

Football

PSG becomes Huawei’s jewel in the crown

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Despite effectively being blocked from doing anything of consequence in the US, Chinese telecoms group Huawei has been continuing its expansion plans in Europe and elsewhere, thanks in part to an increasingly successful soft power campaign that has seen the firm partner up with a variety of sports properties. In the last year alone, Huawei signed deals with:  Continue reading PSG becomes Huawei’s jewel in the crown →

Snooker

Chinese star stands on verge of greatness

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Snooker may not be everybody’s cup of tea, but it’s perhaps the best example of the Chinese taking over a sport in a short space of time. Since Ding Junhui won his first China Open title in 2005 as an 18-year-old (he added his second on Sunday), the sport has grown so much here that there are now 13 Chinese in the world’s top 100 players, and five of the season’s 11 full ranking tournaments now take place in China. In TV viewing terms, it’s now firmly established in the second tier of sports (with basketball and soccer the only true Tier 1 occupants). 

Ding Junhui won the China Open in Beijing - his fifth major title of the season
Ding Junhui won the China Open in Beijing – his fifth major title of the season

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Olympics

Russian politician holds key to China’s Olympic hopes

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The most important Russian to China right now is not Vladimir Putin, but it’s a man who knows him very well: Alexander Zhukov. That’s because he has just been appointed head of the evaluation commission for the 2022 Winter Games. In other words, he is leading the team that will select the host city.

L to R: Vladimir Putin, Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko and Alexander Zhukov
L to R: Vladimir Putin, Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko and Alexander Zhukov

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Chinese language, Tennis

李娜依然难以企及小威的高度

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在被幸运女神眷顾了三个月之后，中国网球“一姐”李娜2014年开年以来的好运最终走到了尽头。在今年的迈阿密索尼公开赛决赛之前，李娜的2014赛季已取得了21胜2负的骄人战绩。但是她的成功却建立在从未与世界前10交手的基础上，这不得不说是一件很奇特的事。不过，北京时间3月30日，李娜还是迎来了她本赛季第一位“世界前10”的对手，而这个人就是李娜此前已连负9次的世界第一——塞雷娜•威廉姆斯(小威廉姆斯)。

Li Na Serena Williams Continue reading 李娜依然难以企及小威的高度 →