In the video, Harvey Davis, vice president at ESPN’s Events Management Group, reckons that “these [action] sports are now recognized in China as real sports, with real committees and real organizations reporting up to the top government organizations in Beijing” and concluded that as “one of the biggest things for the growth of sport in China.” With that comes, as in the case of Shanghainese BMX rider Shen Jian and his friends, a clash of interest between government organization and athletes/brands.

China has definitely been picking up actions sports in the past five years. But just because promoters established ties with the government, doesn’t mean the sports become mainstream in the country. And I think part of the image of the sports, as manifested in tattoos and piercings for most of the athletes, may be the main reason why Chinese parents would not want their children to practice in it.

In the Shen Jian story, we had a chance to talk with Chen Jie, CEO of SMP Skate Park in Shanghai. The world largest skate-park now has about 2,000 members and over ninety percent of them, according to Mr.Chen, are foreigners.

“It looks now we’re turning into a club catering exclusively to foreigners,” said Chen. “Some wealthy Chinese send their kids here to play only because they want their children to be more international, as the children could speak English with kids from other countries in the park.”

“They focus on language exchange, not the sports themselves, which again turned practitioners of extreme sports into a minority group.” Chen is cutting down on the ticket prices this June in hopes of bringing more local kids in, but he opines the results might not be fruitful.

Also in the video, PT Black commentates on sports participation in the country and why Chinese are more likely to watch than actually play sports.

Part of the reason, PT noted, comes from “a legacy of centralized sports planning” which “takes all the kids who’re good at sports out of the mainstream school system, therefore depriving their classmates of the chance to actually play with the good kids.”

Parents are the “biggest obstacle” and another reason to the lack of participation in PT’s opinion. “When the exam system is so important, parents look at any moment dedicated to sports as a moment that should have been spend studying.”

Any other reasons? This is actually what we look forward to finding out at Sports Illustrated China as the magazine is rolling out a cover feature on the topic. So more later on this.

“The economic crisis has indeed affected the sport and we felt there’s a need to adjust the prices,” Jiang Lan(姜澜), general manager of the Juss Event Co Ltd, the organizer, told Qianjiang Evening News(钱江晚报), a Zhejiang-based paper, “Another reason is to help recruit more Chinese F1 fans.”

“As long as there is China, we will be here,” said Bernie Ecclestone, the CEO of Formula One Management and Formula One Administration in a recent interview, remaining positive for the future of the game in Shanghai. “It is good for a country to have the exposure.”

Ecclestone is keen to pin the future of F1 to Asia, with South Korea GP confirmed next year and India in 2011. The Formula One first entered into the continent in 1976 in Japan. Malaysia signed their deal in 1999 while China and Bahrain joined the family in 2004. Singapore came on board in 2008 and Abu Dhabi is to debut this November.

Shanghai’s contract with F1 will end in 2010 and the municipal government has been reportedly doing the assessment whether to extend the deal. The decision will be made by the end of this year.

Links and sources:

• Times: Sebastian Vettel wins Chinese Grand Prix
• Sky Sports: Bernie says China GP will stay
• Dushi Kuaibao:  700 RMB for 3-day tickets in Shanghai GP (in Chinese via Sina)

Previously:

• Report Lost In Translation, Shanghai GP Likely to Stay
• China May Drop F1 Race in Shanghai As Its Economy Slows

photo: kenworker

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Andy Macdonald gives another flawless display in the Skateboard Vert finals at the KIA X Games Asia.

Good news for extreme sports lovers in Shanghai! The KIA X Games Asia 2009 will come back to Shanghai for the third consecutive year. The games will hosted from April 30th to May 3rd at Jiangwan Sports Center. Tickets are now available at 400-666-6699.

This year the event will showcase more than 200 of the best action sports athletes from more than 20 countries in world-class competition in the sports of Skateboard, BMX, In-Line Skate and Sport Climbing. New to the Asian X Games, this year’s event will also feature a Moto X Big Air demonstration. Televised live from Shanghai’s KIC Jiangwan Stadium, X Games Asia will air May 1 – May 3 on ESPN Asia networks and will be organized by sports broadcaster ESPN STAR Sports along with the Shanghai Media Group and Shanghai Sports Federation. The event will also be shown on ESPN International networks in Latin America, Australia, Middle East and Africa.

As in last year, there will also be some roadshows this month with in-line skating and BMX freestyle demonstrations:

- Apr 11-12 at Yandang Road, Luwan District
- Apr 18-19 at Wanda Plaza,Yangpu District
- Apr 25-26 at Wanda Plaza,Yangpu District

photo:  Charlie Xia via XgamesAsia

Previously:

• Parkour, Chinese Style
• Building Snowboarding from the Peak Down

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Qiu Weichang (邱伟昌), deputy director of the Shanghai Administration of Sports, is reported to have said that:

“We’re doing the assessment. By next year we should be able to give you an answer. Of course we would like at least to break even. But there are two factors – one is the assessment; the other part is the win-win situation that we can create.”

“I’ve spoken to Mr Qiu and he never said the Grand Prix was going to leave China,” Leon clarified in a telephone interview with Reuters. Leon continued by saying, “I think for sure there will be more events coming to Shanghai, the only thing we don’t know is when and how.”

It’s interesting to see how Juss reacted to this case and, we sincerely hope they can keep the F1 in China’s economic capital and get more events in the future.

Sources and Reads:

• Reuters: Motor racing-Chinese GP likely to stay after 2010 – organisers
• The Gazette: How to replace the Grand Prix? Here’s some ideas

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Chinese Grand Prix, hosted at the $450m Shanghai International Circuit since 2004, may see its end in 2010 when the contract with F1 expires.

“We’re doing the assessment. By next year we should be able to give you an answer,” Qiu Weichang, deputy director of the Shanghai Administration of Sports, told AFP on Thursday when asked about the future of the racing event. Early this month, Shanghai Grand Prix was announced by F1 to be rescheduled to play in April next year, a move, according to Chinese media, is to avoid clash with the ATP Masters Series next October.

Shanghai Grand Prix received 130,000 visitors this year, which is only half the number of its first year in 2004. According to Chongqing Evening News (CEN, 重庆晚报), the circuit needs to make RMB 625 million only to break even of its costs, which includes first phrase development the circuit, annual hosting fee to F1 and TV broadcast rights purchase. Shanghai Grand Prix generated RMB 300 million in 2004 and 216 million in 2005 in ticket sales. Its best year was 2006, making about RMB 400 million as the circuit hosted the farewell match of Michael Schumacher, then it plunged again to about RMB 200 millon last year. The CEN reported that the circuit at least makes a loss of RMB 200 million each year. “Of course we would like at least to break even. But there are two factors – one is the assessment; the other part is the win-win situation that we can create,” Qiu noted. By assessment, Qiu was obviously referring to a global profile and new opportunities the event can bring. But with the World Expo 2010 to be held in the city, will Shanghai still need F1 to do the branding?

Though China still remains a fast-growing economy when most of other countries suffer this winter, statistics suggest that the pace of the middle kingdom slowed. In order to boost its economy and consumption, Chinese government recently decided to throw a stimulus package of RMB 4 trillion (roughly $600 billion USD). “The stimulus plan is mainly about infrastructure development projects such as railways and airports, and it seems that it has nothing to do with raising people’s salaries,” said Mao Yushi, chairman of the Beijing-based Unirule Institute of Economics. “Millions of Chinese could lose their jobs next year. Salaries will shrink and people will less likely to buy.” So consumer confidence will not soon be recovered. This is, without doubt, gloomy news for most business owners in the country, and the racing event now looks like more of a drag to Shanghai’s economy.

Sources:

• AFP: Shanghai may axe F1 Grand Prix
• The Economist: China’s stimulus package

Photo: Bert van Dijk

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Chinese Women’s Hockey Team continued their winning streak by beating Japanese Team 2-0 in Shanghai,  securing themselves a shot of playing in the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics after three straight wins over Norway, Czech Republic and Japan. Ranked 8th in the world, the team consists of 19 players all coming from Harbin, the capital of China’s northeastern Heilongjiang Province which is also known as “ice city” for its long and cold winter.

Low Income

“We’re the only women’s pro team in the country,” said Wang Linuo, the skipper. “There’s only a very few amateur women’s teams, let alone pro. It’s very hard for them to play matches, as there’s almost no opponents. There’re probably less than 100 female hockey players in China now, most of them living in the northern cities like Harbin. I don’t know who’s going to catch up when we retire,” Wang continued. “It’s good that you see some people come to watch our games in Shanghai. But normally there’re less than 10 fans per game. In China, it’s like no body knows hockey and no body wants to know.”

“We’re ranked eighth in the world and I believe we have a shot at a possible medal in Vancouver,” said the Canadian head coach Paul Strople to the Chronicle-Herald. Paul has been with the team since the beginning of this year, the second time being employed as the head coach of this squad. Chinese Ice Hockey Association (CIHA), an organization under the General Administration of Sport of China, has been recruiting foreign experts like Paul as early as in 2003, an attempt to gather the tour de force needed to qualify for the Torino 2006 Winter Games. But Paul’s squad lost in the group qualifiers at the time.

In the wake of the defeat, the CIHA tried to help by other means. “A lot of our players are now playing outside the country. A couple played in Norway last year and six played in Canada. They gain more confidence by playing at different levels. Before our team had only played most of its games in China. But by playing in Canada, for instance, and being on their own for six months, they also gain life experiences as well,” noted Paul to the Halifax paper. “Ice hockey pays you well in Canada and the US. I wish China can have professional league like their one day,” said Wang.

Playing in a pro league does mean a lot to these girls. Only six of Wang’s teammates get their paychecks every month. Others can only receive an allowance of RMB 900 (roughly $ 130 USD) per person in a best month, while most of the time playing for nothing. “Isn’t it unimaginable we’re supported by our families? People ask why we still play. We play only because we love this sport,” a player said in an interview with Xinwenhubao (新闻午报), a Shanghai-based newspaper. But their bad days would not be over soon unless the CIHA could do something. And we can’t expect another 19 girls come and play for that 900 yuan monthly allowance.

New Hopes

“Ice hockey was once very popular in China in the 1980s, especially in the northeastern part of the country” Wang recalled. The then Chinese ice hockey league, which had 17 teams competing for the title, was ranked the best sports league in the country at the time. Thanks to its high competitiveness, Chinese Men’s Ice Hockey Team became a dominant power in Asia. In the Ice Hockey World Championship group match in 1981, tons of fans flocked to the stadium in match days, making Chinese cops, for the first time, control traffic for sports events after China’s Open Door Policy.

Today, with the rise of Chinese middle class, more and more cities are engaging in ice hockey, especially southern China. Guangzhou opened eight ice rinks in recent two years and has 20 amateur teams. Shenzhen also has five rinks now. Shanghai, the country’s economic center, opened three new rinks in a year, where expats and Chinese amateur teams could be found playing. Aside from hosting the Olympic qualifiers for China’s Women’s Team, the city’s Songjiang Stadium (松江冰球馆) is now home to China Sharks (中国鲨鱼队), a pro ice hockey team playing in Asia League Ice Hockey, who’s sponsored by the San Jose Sharks in NHL. Beijing outruns other cities in the number of ice rinks and has now about 4,000 amateur players under the age of 12. The Beijing Cubs, a team of enthusiastic Chinese hockey boys, won the title of Boys Atom House A of Bell Capital Cup in Canada in 2007. The capital’s Wukesong Indoor Stadium, built mainly for the Beijing Olympics, will possiblely host the first NHL pre-season game in China.

But all this may not be of any quick help to all the women players. The ladies now have gotten into the same trouble as Chinese women football players did, who hardly survived all these years…or maybe much worse than that, as China does not have a hockey league and the CIHA is supposedly poorer than the Chinese Football Association.

Sources:

• The Chronicle Herald: Halifax’s Strople coaches Chinese team to Olympics
• Chinese Ice Hockey Association: What can we do to help women’s ice hockey players? (Chinese)

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So adventure sports fanatics in Shanghai will have their festival tomorrow at the SMP Skate Park. (h/t Shanghaiist)

Saturday – Nov. 8th

SMP Skate/Music Festival – SCMP Skate Park – 10am-Late (free)

Location: 2100 Songhu Road, Yangpu Distrct (Jiangwan Stadium) 淞沪路2100号，江湾体育场

SMP launched its 138,000 sq ft SMP Skatepark in October 2005, making it the biggest skatepark in the world by almost double. Located in Shanghai China, the park boasts the biggest vert ramp in the world, the biggest concrete bowl in the world, a 5000 – 7000 seat arena, plaza and beginners areas.

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