China

Beijing has promised a fair and friendly contest to host the 2008 Olympics after China's capital was chosen as one of the five official candidates for the summer games.

Huge time-zone differences and an explosion in computer use will make Sydney's Olympics the biggest event yet on the Internet with officials predicting a staggering 6.5 billion hits for the official Games site alone.

The race to host the Olympic Games in 2008 has now begun in earnest following the announcement of the shortlist by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

Sohu.com, the Chinese internet portal, is to provide Olympic Games information to over 50 million mobile phone users in China, due to an alliance with China Mobile Communications Corporation (CMCC).

North and South Korea may march together under the Olympic flag at the Sydney Olympics, and that could lead to powerful joint teams in international sporting arenas.

The ISMM Group (International Sports Media & Marketing) headquarters is on the move after 18 years in Lucerne.

Olympic fever is hotting up in Beijing, with posters plastered around subway stations, advertisements in national newspapers and passionate pledges of support in state media by everyone from taxi drivers to government leaders, but it is not Sydney they are getting worked up about, this interest is triggered by Beijing?s bid to host the 2008 Games. See the `FEATURES? section of SportBusiness.com for the full story.

A new web site hosting the official web sites for a string of top sports men and women has been launched.

EPSN Star Sports has appointed Mike Kerr to the newly created position of senior manager, integrated sales.

A new 24-hour soccer channel will be launched this year for the Asian market with the content initially available to audiences in Greater China, Hong Kong and Bejing.

Sydney Olympics minister Michael Knight has said that Beijing has a strong bid for the 2008 games and Australia would be willing to help if China won.

Western dot com companies are not the only businesses interested in tapping into the Chinese sports sector.

Sportasia.com, the Asian internet sports content producer, syndicator and distributor, has appointed Ikuya Tanaka of Dentsu?s Sports Marketing Division as a board director.

FIFA will not change the result of the vote that gave the 2006 World Cup finals to Germany despite an appeal being mounted by narrow losers South Africa, a FIFA official said on Thursday.

FIBA, the international governing body for basketball, has created a pre-Olympic competition, the FIBA Diamond Ball, which will take place every four years to promote basketball globally.

The Chinese national volleyball association has decided to loosen its grip on China?s volleyball clubs by offering them the opportunity to run their own league matches.