Posts tagged ‘Olympic’

  |  
11/02/2014

UPDATE 4-Olympics-India returns to the Games as IOC lifts ban | Reuters

India has returned to the Olympic fold after the IOC lifted a ban on the country’s Olympic association on Tuesday, and its athletes will now be able to march behind the Indian flag at the closing ceremony of the Sochi Winter Games.

Deutsch: Logo des IOC

The country’s athletes have been competing in Russia under the Olympic flag due to the suspension, imposed after it held a 2012 Indian Olympic Association (IOA) election in which a corruption-tainted official was voted in as secretary general.

“It is the first time in Olympic history that a suspension of a National Olympic Committee has been lifted during the Games,” International Olympic Committee spokesman Mark Adams told reporters.

He said the IOC had discussed the matter early on Tuesday and ruled that elections held on Sunday had fulfilled all criteria for the country’s immediate reinstatement.

“We observed the general assembly (on Sunday). We are happy with the changes,” Adams said, adding the IOC’s prerequisite to ban any tainted officials from elections had been fully met.

On Sunday, the IOA voted in a new set of officials with World Squash Federation chief N. Ramachandran elected president, paving the way for the Olympic reinstatement of the world’s second most populous nation.

All India Tennis Association chief Anil Khanna became treasurer in polls which marked the exit of corruption-tainted Abhay Singh Chautala and Lalit Bhanot from the IOA.

via UPDATE 4-Olympics-India returns to the Games as IOC lifts ban | Reuters.

Enhanced by Zemanta

Posted in Good news, India alert, sports | Leave a Comment »

Tags: , , , , , , ,
12/07/2013

Austerity threatens to take gloss off China’s national games

I wonder if the government’s austerity drive and the anti-corruption drive is contributing to the slow down in spending and exacerbating the slowdown in the economy?

FT: “Fireworks are out and frugality is in at China’s national games after the organising committee rushed to comply with edicts requiring officials across the country to tighten their belts as the economy slows.

A football match is held inside the Shenyang Olympic Sports Centre Stadium, one of the five football venues of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, in Shenyang...A football match is held inside the Shenyang Olympic Sports Centre Stadium, one of the five football venues of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, in Shenyang, capital of northeast China's Liaoning province August 1, 2007. Picture taken August 1, 2007. REUTERS/Stringer (CHINA) - RTR1SG8T

The austere sporting championships, which start at the end of August in the northeastern province of Liaoning, will contrast with China’s lavish spending on major events from the Beijing Olympics in 2008 to the world expo in Shanghai in 2010 when the economy was growing at a double-digit pace.

Now, with growth dipping towards 7.5 per cent and Xi Jinping, the new president, railing against ostentatious displays of wealth, the organisers of the Liaoning games – China’s national equivalent of the Olympics – have gone out of their way to highlight their cost-saving measures.

The funding for the games, held every four years and the largest national sporting event in the country, has been cut by 78 per cent from the original budget to Rmb800m ($130m), with fewer new competition venues and less spending on entertainment than initially planned, they announced.

The opening ceremonies will be held during the day to reduce the need for lighting, the first time since 1987 that they have not been at night. The organisers also vowed not to use fireworks, departing with the tradition of bombastic pyrotechnic displays at the start of Chinese sporting events.

“For the opening and closing ceremonies, stadium construction, the torch relay and all other segments of the national games, we strive to create, hopefully, a fresh fashion of organising big events in a thrifty manner,” said He Min, deputy director of the organising committee.

Along with cancelling a series of conferences and exhibitions on the sidelines of the games, the number of invited foreign guests has also been reduced by half. Those foreigners who do make the guest list will have to endure relative privation. There will be “neither welcome banquets nor souvenirs for them”, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

The shift to austerity falls in line with a tone set by Mr Xi since his first days in office late last year as head of the Communist party. He banned flower displays at official events and ordered that banquets should be pared back, demanding that government spending should be less wasteful.

These demands have intensified in recent months as the Chinese economy has slowed and after Mr Xi launched a new campaign against “hedonism and extravagance” among other ills.

The finance ministry this week ordered all units of the central government to reduce general expenditures such as car purchases and overseas travel.”

via Austerity threatens to take gloss off China’s national games – FT.com.

Related articles

Posted in austerity, austerity, China alert, Economics | 1 Comment »

Tags: , , , ,
29/07/2012

* Tailored in China, for Team World

China Daily: “The record number of Olympic teams clad in clothes bearing Chinese innovations brings a “made-in-China” to “created-in-China” paradigm shift to the London Games. Erik Nilsson, Wu Ying, Cecily Liu, Wang Zhenghua and Tiffany Tan report.

While much ado has been made about the fact that Team USA‘s uniforms for the London Olympics are made in China, less attention has been given to the record number of foreign teams’ uniforms not only manufactured, but also designed, by domestic companies.

Leading the pack is home-grown label Peak, which sponsors seven countries that will participate in 20 events in London, a major backer at the Games after Nike and Adidas. Because the design process takes months – it may take up to a year until manufacturing is complete – Peak had to turn away 10 countries that approached it for the 2012 Games.

Next up is Li-Ning, named after and founded by the Chinese Olympic champion, which sponsors teams from eight countries and more than 600 individual athletes from 17 countries across the five continents – one for every Olympic ring.

Other companies with foreign clients include Adivon, Qiaodan, Erke, 361 and Xtep. A far greater number of domestic companies manufacture uniforms, apparel and merchandise developed at home and abroad.

“The phenomenon indicates domestic sportswear companies are rapidly growing and earning a say on the international stage,” says Jian Jie, senior sponsorship products manager of Li-Ning’s sports resources products department.

“It also shows that brand influence becomes increasingly important in the sportswear field and ‘made in China’ is gradually transforming to ‘created in China’. The alliance between a domestic brand and an international brand can internationalize Chinese brands and generate greater access to the partner’s market.

“The alliance during the Olympics can also increase the exposure of the domestic brand, promote its brand value and further its recognition at home and abroad. Through cooperation with the foreign brands, domestic brands can also improve.””

via Tailored in China, for Team World[1].

Related articles

Posted in China alert, Chinese labels, Economics, exports, Manufacturing | Leave a Comment »

Tags: , , , , , ,
  |  
CCChang

Law of Unintended Consequences

continuously updated blog about China & India

ChiaHou's Book Reviews

continuously updated blog about China & India

What's wrong with the world; and its economy

continuously updated blog about China & India