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Friday, January 27, 2012
World divas are no silver bullet for China soccer
Soccer may be among the most popular sports in China, but when it comes to tapping the country's multi-billion-dollar sports market, it hasn't been scoring well.
Years of match-fixing, gambling scandals, corruption scandals, and violence on and off the pitch have driven fans away, and for overseas companies that have tried to market products by sponsoring soccer clubs in China, the record has been checkered, said Mark Thomas, managing director of sports marketing company S2M Group.
"We tell our customers to take a very strong look at football and be very careful with it because there's a lot of dangers in actually investing in that brand and the negative connotation that it could potentially bring you," said Thomas.
What soccer really needs is a Yao Ming, the former NBA superstar who transformed Chinese basketball.
Short of local talent, Shanghai Shenhua is attempting to buy superstars. Late last year they turned heads globally by signing Nicolas Anelka, the 32-year-old French striker from English Premier League side Chelsea, reportedly on wages of $300,000 a week.
They also employed former Girondins Bordeaux coach Jean Tigana and have been courting Anelka's old Chelsea team mate Didier Drogba to help improve on last season's 11th place finish in the 16-team Chinese Super League.
Dong Hua, spokesman for the Chinese Football Association, said the CFA has no say over clubs hiring expensive foreign players but they were supportive of the move.
"We believe bringing in high-level famous soccer players, especially those from European leagues, will definitely help improve the popularity of the Chinese Super League and the level of Chinese football," Dong told Reuters by phone.
NO SILVER BULLET
But critics say foreign players, who may come and go, can't match the influence of local stars like Yao Ming, or French Open champion Li Na in tennis.
Also, if Shenhua are hoping Anelka will be the silver bullet to clean up Chinese soccer then their recent sponsorship deal with online gaming firm The9 Limited isn't the best solution, critics say.
Earlier this month, The9 said it would pay Anelka 2.7 million Euro ($3.50 million) to promote online shooter game Firefall developed by its subsidiary Red 5 Studios. The9 will also pay 32 million yuan ($5.05 million) to Shenhua to promote the game as well.
Shenhua's owner Zhu Jun is the founder and chief executive of The9.
The9, in its press release announcing the sponsorship deal, said that "Zhu recused himself from any discussion among the board of directors regarding this matter".
"I think there's a real mis-mash and even potential compliance issue between the ownership of a software company and the ownership of a football company, that seems to be a little bit too crossed over," said Thomas.
Thomas pointed to a 10-year, 400-million pounds ($623.48 million) stadium naming rights agreement between English Premier League leaders Manchester City and Etihad Airways. Etihad Airways is part owned by Abu Dhabi's government and founded by the half brother of Sheikh Mansour, owner of Manchester City.
The deal has created a lot of discussion about how money losing international soccer clubs should be funded.
THE ANELKA POWER
Still, despite the criticism, the signing of Anelka has brought more attention to Chinese soccer in the past month than many years combined, said Thomas.
All that is great for advertising dollars for now, said Seth Grossman, China managing director of ad agency Carat.
"It's a good thing for everyone around, if they get success on the field," said Grossman. "Ultimately, there's nothing that will turnaround a passionate fan base quicker than failure on the field. So let's see how they actually do on the pitch."
Soccer fans in China will be watching closely how much of a kick multi-million-dollar global soccer stars can give Chinese soccer, and whether they can outmanoeuvre the skeptics.
($1 = 0.7708 euros) ($1 = 6.3390 Chinese yuan) ($1 = 0.6416 British pounds)
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Chinese women's water polo team obtains London ticket
China defeated host Japan 18-6 to win the women's water polo gold medal at the Asian Water Polo Swimming Championships in Chiba International General Swimming Center on Thursday, pocketing a ticket for the London Olympics.
The Chinese team met with little resistance throughout the game except for the third part, in which its opponent scored three goals. The split scores for the game were 5-1, 6-1, 4-3, 3-1.
Sun Yating, one of China's top scorers, said it seemed that in the third part the team lost some steam due to the easy game in the first two parts, which gave the opponent opportunity to go aggressive. < Asked about the goal for the London Olympic Games, Chinese head coach Jane Giralt Juan said the games would be difficult for the Chinese team, but "a medal will be possible".
The Asian Water Polo Swimming Championships serve as the qualification tournament for the London Olympic Games.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
China wants tennis major, but Australian Open not budging
MARK COLVIN: The Australian Open has kicked off the tennis Grand Slam year since 1987, but could it be now under threat?
One reason for its survival is that it's labelled as the Grand Slam of the Asia Pacific.
But since the rise of stars like Li Na, Chinese people have taken a bigger interest in the sport.
Tennis is now the third most popular sport on television in the People's Republic.
So the pressure is ratcheting up for China to host its own major tournament.
So can Tennis Australia maintain its Grand Slam foothold?
Alison Caldwell reports.
ALISON CALDWELL: For close to a decade the Australian Open has been described as the Grand Slam of Asia Pacific.
The pressure to live up to that title and for the Open to maintain its status as one of the world's four tennis majors, has prompted Tennis Australia to increase the interest in tennis not here but in Asia.
Steve Ayles is the director of commercial with Tennis Australia. He says it's a no brainer for the organisation to do everything it can to increase Asian interest in the sport.
STEVE AYLES: Look I think certainly with the performances of, in particular, Li Na, you've seen a lot of growth not just in exposure in terms of TV broadcast etcetera, but I think in the interest of the sport as well there's more young people wanting to take up tennis. And because I think also of the economic development in the region, and particularly China, the infrastructure is starting to build as well. So there are more tennis courts, there are more opportunities for young people to start playing a sport like that.
So I sort of liken it to Eastern Europe 10-15 years ago, didn't have a whole lot of tennis players, now they dominate the world's top 100. And it wouldn't surprise me in 10 years or 15 years time, if we can look forward and see who was dominating was women's tennis, I think you would find a lot of Asian players coming from there.
ALISON CALDWELL: Tennis Australia has signed on with dozens of tour operators in the region.
Last year the Australian Open trophy travelled to three Chinese cities with Chinese celebrities making appearances as trophy ambassadors.
Tennis Australia has also signed a deal with a Chinese merchandiser to launch an Australian Open merchandise range for distribution in China and India.
Steve Ayles says the success of Chinese, Indian and now Japanese tennis players, such as Kei Nishikori, is helping to increase interest in the sport in Asia.
STEVE AYLES: What drives sport and interest in Asia and virtually this is the same for every Asian country, is the performance of their players.
So, for example, in Japan Kei Nishikori, if he performs well - they love their heroes.
But for us to, I guess, maintain and increase that interest the infrastructure, the programs, the IP, the coaching methodologies have all got to be there to help continue that growth. And I think that's one of the roles that Tennis Australia can help play within the region, is to assist different countries and associations with that expertise.
For us this is sort of like a circle of success for tennis if you like. The more we can get people involved the more they'll help support and grow something like the Australian Open.
ALISON CALDWELL: There has been concern for quite a few years that China wants to host a major; such a huge population, such a strong economy, it's not surprising that they'd be saying, 'well why can't we host the Asia Pacific major?
STEVE AYLES: And look, I think it's great that countries like China, and if you spoke to someone a country in Europe like Spain, they have great aspirations to have the best - the best of everything.
Ultimately when you talk about a major, whether it's golf, whether it's tennis, these are events that have been around more than a century. They have great tradition, great history, and it's not something that you can just replicate.
So from our perspective I think that's why we want to continue to grow our event, we want to continue to embrace and involve people from Asia Pacific. And I guess that's our strategy, to build the Australian Open to be, you know, ultimately one of the best tennis events in the world.
ALISON CALDWELL: And with Nishikori doing so well, how has that changed say viewers - viewership in Japan?
STEVE AYLES: We traditionally have the Australian Open on Wow Wow, which is a subscription TV channel over there with a two million potential audience. The performance he's had here has enabled us to generate interest from a free to air broadcaster, NHK (Nihon Hoso Kyokai), which actually opens up our market to 55 million.
It comes back to the same point that the performance of individuals from within those countries is what generates the interest.
What we've got to help happen there is to continue developing the infrastructure, continue the exposure and interest and ensure that more people get the opportunity to play tennis.
MARK COLVIN: That report prepared by Alison Caldwell.
Monday, January 23, 2012
Zheng Jie out of Australian Open
Zheng, who reached the semifinals in 2010, lost 6-2, 6-1. She only held a serve game in the whole match, which occurred in the second set.
Source: china.org.cn
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Clijsters Ends Li Na’s Open
MELBOURNE — Distraught Chinese number one Li Na left the Australian Open in floods of tears on Sunday after a heart-breaking defeat to defending champion Kim Clijsters.
Li held four match points against Clijsters, who was struggling after rolling an ankle, but was unable to convert as the Belgian staged a staggering recovery and went on to take win it in three sets.
Afterwards Li, known for her jokes and charisma, gave a stony-faced press conference which was hastily brought to an end when she dissolved in tears and fled from the room.
It was a wretched end to the tournament for Li, who also went a set up against Clijsters in last year's final but lost in three sets. She insisted she had played well, but admitted being affected by nerves.
"Of course, I was nervous. If you're nervous you can't think too much, right?" she said.
Li was referring to the pivotal moment when Clijsters, facing her fourth match point in the second-set tiebreak, sent over a half-hearted drop shot which the Chinese player tamely knocked back, and was then lobbed.
"After losing the tiebreak I was worrying a little bit about myself because I had four match points, but I didn't take them," Li said.
The French Open champion had looked odds-on for the quarter-finals when Clijsters painfully went over on her left ankle in the first set and seemed on the verge of pulling out.
But after choking in the second-set tiebreak, the Chinese star went to pieces in the third set when she dished up 19 unforced errors.
"I think I played OK today. I mean, I wasn't worried about my technique. But maybe at 6-2 up in the tiebreak I was a little bit shocking," she admitted.
Li made it through the English portion of her press conference but started crying shortly after the start of questioning in Chinese.
Her defeat on the eve of Chinese new year leaves the hopes of the giant nation on the shoulders of Zheng Jie, who plays Italy's Sara Errani on Monday.
Four-time grand slam winner Clijsters said it may have been the greatest comeback of her glittering career, which will come to an end when she retires this year.
"I can't believe I won. I knew before the match it was going to be a tough match... but I didn't expect this," Clijsters said.
Li became the first Asian to reach a grand slam singles final in Melbourne last year, and she followed it up by claiming the continent's debut major singles title at the French Open in June.
Her success has been credited with boosting tennis in China, considered a key market for the sport, and with attracting Chinese fans and media to the Australian Open.
A life lived on the snowy slopes
BEIJING - For the past three winters, the training camp in Beijing run by Italian ski instructor Martina Merlet has been overbooked. The relatively cheap cost - a three-day class is 5,200 yuan ($824) per person and includes transportation, accommodation and resort tickets - keeps customers coming back each year.
So you would think that the overflow of skiing enthusiasts at the Nordica Training Camp points to an overall surge in popularity for the sport in China, but as Merlet explains, that just isn't the case. In her experience of the Chinese skiing industry over the past six years, she said most Chinese treat skiing like parachuting or bungee jumping.
"They do it once, then they are done and never come back to ski again," she said.
This Chinese fling with skiing is what keeps Merlet sticking around. She said she is committed to helping more Chinese understand the sport and to show that, with practice, and lessons, people can have fun skiing.
According to the Chinese Ski Association, there aren't many skiers in China, whose population accounts for one-fifth of the world total. In 2010, according to the association's statistics, there were just 10 million visits to ski resorts, one-fortieth of the global total. First-time skiers made up a large portion of the 10-million visits. In a nation of more than 1.3 billion people, industry insiders estimate that the number of active skiers is approximately 5 million.
The 28-year-old, who was born into a family of ski instructors, is the only foreign instructor in China with a teaching certificate granted by the Chinese Ski Association. She said she is a big fan of both skiing and Chinese culture.
After graduating with a bachelor's degree in Chinese language and culture from the University of Turin in Italy, she went to Beijing to fulfill her two passions.
She quickly found out that skiing is a small niche market in China. Starting in 2007, Merlet explored the industry, working at a sports equipment company in Beijing to sell winter sportswear and skiing equipment, then joining ski resort consultant Sydex Science and Technology Development Co in Beijing to help design slopes in China.
For Merlet, who has been skiing since she was 4 years old, she realized after her stint at Sydex that the best way to promote skiing in China is through teaching and allowing more Chinese to know that it is a sport they can learn.
"A lot of people in China cannot become active skiers, mostly because they don't get trained before skiing. They don't know how to control themselves. The first experience of skiing is so unpleasant, they don't want to do it again," she said.
She got a job as a ski instructor in 2009 at the Ole Sports Center in Beijing, which is run by Italian businessman Fabio Ries, the co-founder of Duolemeidi Mountain Resort on the outskirts of the capital.
Merlet trained Chinese ski coaches and taught children. She also started her winter training camp that year to train more Chinese beginners to ski at an intermediate level. Still, she said, promoting the sport was tough, especially to Chinese children.
She said that although the number of families that participate in the Ole Sports Center's children ski club doubled from 2009 to 2011, only 20 percent of the children are from Chinese families.
Merlet said it is easier for expatriate parents to understand the value of the activity because they are more familiar with skiing. But most Chinese know little about the sport.
"Six or five years ago, when I took my equipment to ski resorts in Beijing, most of the taxi drivers thought I was going fishing, because they'd never seen skis," she said.
Chinese parents, because they have limited knowledge about the sport, see it as a dangerous activity, Merlet said. That has made it difficult for them to allow their children to ski.
Remigio Brunelli, an Italian advanced skier, said safety concerns are not the only major obstacle for the sport. The manager of Beijing Tecnica Sport Equipment Co Ltd, a company headquartered in Italy, said the difficulty of promoting skiing in China is rooted in the nation's natural resources.
He said China doesn't have enough natural snow. In Italy, he said, they have new snow every year.
"Every year, Beijing has snow for two or three days. Kids can have fun with snowmen but there is not enough snow for skiing," he said.
Despite the disadvantages of promoting the sport in China, Merlet and Brunelli both see a promising future in China's skiing industry as they find more and more participants, especially children.
"We call them Xueerdai, which means the second generation of Chinese skiers. Before 2010, you could never find a kid on the slopes. But now, there are more and more xueerdai on China's ski resorts," said Merlet, who added that the children are the future of China's skiing industry.
With a commitment to help more Chinese understand skiing as a sport, Merlet took a test in 2010 to gain a ski instructor's qualification from the Chinese Ski Association.
"I think since I want to share as much as I have learned from Europe with Chinese skiers, it would be better if I have a Chinese certificate," Merlet said, who is known as an instructor with both great skiing and Chinese language skills.
She said she is never satisfied with her current set of skills. Every time Merlet goes back to Italy, she learns from the best ski instructors to keep her skills fresh.
This winter, she has had a full-time job at Beidahu ski resort, one of the largest ski resorts in China with 67,000 visits in 2010, to run a training school for 70 instructors.
"It is challenging and exciting. Through teaching ski instructors at Beidahu, I can pass the most advanced ski methodology in Italy on to China, which will influence more Chinese skiers," she said.
Saturday, January 21, 2012
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