China

Golf’s European Tour has announced a revamp of the season finale to its second tier Challenge Tour, rebranding it as the ‘Final Swing’.

China has become the first country to formally announce its contribution to a government equivalent fund in support of a joint anti-doping research initiative by the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

Fight legend Manny Pacquiao has unveiled plans to open a chain of Chinese government-backed boxing academies across the country.

The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) has awarded its 2016 Acrobatic Gymnastics World Championships to the Chinese city of Putian.

Chinese sports authorities have entered into an agreement to launch the first American football league in the country.

Relevent Sports, the organisers of the US-based International Champions Cup (ICC), have outlined that the planned parallel edition of the pre-season club football tournament is likely to be played in Australia or China from 2015.

The Infront Sports & Media agency has announced the launch of Happy 10k, a new mass-participation running series in China.

German touring car motor racing series the DTM has selected Dutch circuit Zandvoort as the replacement host for the ninth round of its 2014 season.

Golf’s European Tour has opened a Beijing office as it aims to develop its presence in China.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has confirmed that bids from Almaty in Kazakhstan, Beijing in China and Oslo in Norway will proceed to the final stages of the process to determine the host of the 2022 winter Olympic Games.

The World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) has added a second Chinese race to its 2014 calendar after logistical problems forced it to drop its US round in Sonoma.

This third annual survey of global sports media consumption by Perform, KantarSport and TV Sports Markets takes our research wider and deeper than before. Wider, because the number of territories covered has increased from 10 to 14, with the inclusion this year of important growth markets such as India, Indonesia, Japan and Turkey. Deeper, because we have asked questions designed to burrow down into new areas, such as consumers’ second-screen activities, that have not been properly examined until now.

This second annual survey of global sports media consumption by Perform, KantarSport and TV Sports Markets confirms many of the trends highlighted in the first report in 2011 and brings into even sharper focus some of the changes in consumer habits that anybody working in the sports media industry needs to be attuned to.

Organisers of the Laureus World Sports Awards have announced that the 2015 edition of the annual event will take place in Shanghai, China.

Alibaba, China’s largest e-commerce company, has struck a deal to acquire 50 per cent of the country’s Guangzhou Evergrande football club.

The Badminton World Federation (BWF) has announced that the Chinese city of Kunshan will host the 2016 Thomas & Uber Cup Finals, while the Peruvian capital of Lima has secured the rights to the 2015 World Junior Championships.