China

The French Football League (LFP) and French Football Federation (FFF) have joined forces to announce they will open their first overseas office in Beijing, China.

Chinese sports marketing agency Mailman Group has today (Wednesday) secured new investment from the WeCapital and WeSai divisions of online ticketing company WePiao.

Guangzhou will stage its first-ever professional snooker tournament in November after World Snooker announced details of a new event in the Chinese city.

Yao Capital, a private equity firm founded by former basketball star Yao Ming, has acquired a significant stake in Glory Sports International, which operates the Glory kickboxing series.

Bobsleigh is poised to be added to the sports programme for the 2022 winter Paralympic Games after the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) provisionally approved its inclusion for the event in Beijing, China.

Cycling’s UCI WorldTour is set for its first Chinese team after a takeover deal was announced today (Friday) for the Italian outfit Lampre-Merida.

Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda has made its latest major move in the sports sector by today (Friday) announcing that it will plough RMB 63bn (€8.37bn/$9.47bn) into developing a sports and tourism complex in the city of Jinan.

Wang Jianlin, the chairman of Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda, has warned investors in the country that investment in the global football market could leave them out of pocket.

The Chinese cities of Liuzhou, Qujing and Chongqing will each stage Ironman events in 2017, the triathlon series has announced.

Kyrgyzstan weightlifter Izzat Artykov has been stripped of the bronze medal he won during the first week of the Rio 2016 summer Olympics after testing positive for a banned substance, while Chinese swimmer Chen Xinyi and Brazilian cyclist Kleber Ramos have also been disqualified from the Games after failing doping tests.

The World Rally Championship (WRC) has cancelled next month’s Rally China event, which was set to see the motor racing series return to the country for the first time since 1999.

The World Anti-doping Agency (Wada) has approved the resumption of testing operations at a Chinese laboratory which had its accreditation suspended four months ago.

The Kenyan Olympic Committee (KOC) has ordered a sprinting coach to return home from the summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro after he posed as an athlete and gave a urine sample to drug testers, while Chinese swimmer Chen Xinyi and Bulgarian runner Silvia Danekova have both reportedly failed doping tests.

A consortium of Chinese investors has signed a preliminary agreement to acquire AC Milan, according to Fininvest, the holding company that owns the Italian Serie A football club.

Leaders has announced it will stage a Chinese edition of its Leaders Sport Business Summit in Beijing next year.

The Basketball Tournament, a US-based single-elimination competition contested by former professionals and college players, will stage an event in China next year as it looks to enhance its global appeal.