All posts by Mark Dreyer

Football

Neymar to join Messi in small screen venture

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This Bloomberg article from yesterday highlighted Tencent’s huge stock market gain – the most in half a year – after a 35% increase in revenue from desktop games and WeChat messaging, while noting that Lionel Messi was hired to promoted WeChat earlier this year. What it failed to mention is that Messi’s Barcelona teammate Neymar has just agreed to join forces off the pitch as well as on it, by becoming another international face of WeChat, known as Weixin (way-SHEEN) in China.

Continue reading Neymar to join Messi in small screen venture →

Olympics, Swimming

Sun Yang’s veggie demands anger fellow inmates

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Sorry for the lack of posts (a few busy/sick days…), but I’m back – as is Sun Yang.

The Chinese Olympic swimming champ has served his seven days in detention for driving without a license and is a free man once again, though is still banned from competition indefinitely and can’t even train with the national team. The Wuhan Morning News (via SCMP) has the scoop on the details of his stay behind bars: in another knock against China’s food safety, Sun was worried that any meat served to him could be tainted, resulting in a failed drugs test further down the line. So all the inmates had to go veggie for the week, since the guards weren’t allowed to serve him a special meal.

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Golf, Tennis

How bad is Beijing’s pollution? Ask Rafa Nadal…

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The China Open tennis has long been in the books: the 10th anniversary of the tournament saw a dream men’s final between the top two seeds, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, in which Djokovic won, but Nadal regained the world number 1 ranking. But as the best male players in the world face off in London at the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals, it has emerged that this dream final came within a whisker of not happening at all. The reason? The pollution was so bad that Rafa Nadal almost refused to walk out on court.

Rafa looking overjoyed to be at the China Open
Rafa looking overjoyed to be at the China Open

Continue reading How bad is Beijing’s pollution? Ask Rafa Nadal… →

Olympics

Why China won’t host the 2022 Winter Olympics – and knows it

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There was stunning news out of China on Tuesday when it was revealed the Chinese Olympic Committee had recently submitted its bid to host the 2022 Winter Games, with events held in both the world famous city of Beijing (ice sports) and the ever so slightly less well-known city of Zhangjiakou (snow sports).

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Snooker

Ding Junhui breaks new ground

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Chinese snooker star Ding Junhui has just managed something that none of John Higgins, Mark WIlliams and even Ronnie O’Sullivan has ever achieved: winning three ranking titles in a row. He completed the hat-trick with a 10-9 victory over Marco Fu in the final of the International Championship in Chengdu, to go with his Shanghai Masters title in September and his Indian Open win last month.

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Football

Huawei uses sports to combat politics

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It’s almost becoming its own feature at this point: who has Huawei sponsored this week? This year the company has signed sponsorship deals with the ITU World Triathlon Grand Finale in London, German soccer team Borussia Dortmund, NZ soccer team Wellington Phoenix, and Australian rugby league side Canberra Raiders. Then there was a China-New Zealand soccer match, the 2011 Italian Super Cup in Beijing, plus Atletico Madrid in last year’s Madrid derby, and that’s before we get on to Huawei’s recent musical tie-ups with Coldplay and, er, the Jonas Brothers.

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Golf

Dustin Johnson comes through in Shanghai with dramatic finish

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In a dramatic final day in Shanghai, Dustin Johnson clinched the HSBC Champions title at Sheshan International Golf Club. He began and ended the day with a three-shot cushion that might have looked comfortable, but in truth was anything but. After Johnson three-putted the 1st for bogey, he saw playing partner Ian Poulter draw level after birdies at 1 and 2, and then Graeme McDowell – the other member of the final group – also share the lead after opening with three birdies.

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Golf

Poulter closes in on Dustin Johnson in Shanghai

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To say scores were low on Saturday at the HSBC Champions at the Sheshan International Golf Club in Shanghai is something of an understatement. The top five players of the day combined for a total of 41-under-par. Five players. Leading the way was Martin Kaymer, now in 7th, who shot ten birdies for a course record of 62 – beating the mark of 63 he tied two years ago while winning this tournament. Next came Ian Poulter with a 63 (2nd), and Graeme McDowell with a 64 (3rd), and so on…

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Golf

Tiger Woods looks east for earning opportunities [UPDATED]

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[UPDATE: Fresh off his Hainan payday and his visit to the Venetian Macao, Tiger spent Friday at the Marina Bay Sands casino-hotel in Singapore, where he held a clinic for young golfers and dyslexic children. Again, call me cynical, but the kids + special needs combo is fooling no one: clearly it’s easier to bank a large, guaranteed sum for a couple of hours of work than fight it out over four rounds with the other pros, even if the $8.5 million on offer this week in Shanghai means there’s plenty to go around. These promotional appearances, by the way, have apparently been in the pipeline for “well over a year”, meaning they would have been on his calendar before any golf tournaments were added].

Tiger Woods flew into Hainan in his private jet on Sunday night, picked up a reported $2+ million for swearing his way around a golf course on Monday, and then made the short flight to Macau on Tuesday, where he visited the Venetian resort. Continue reading Tiger Woods looks east for earning opportunities [UPDATED] →