China Sports Insider Podcast

1:04 – As the China Sports Insider Podcast turns 50, are there still reasons to be optimistic about China’s sporting future? 

2:46 – China may not be in the World Cup, but some skillfully edited videos circulating online have them winning the final – against Argentina! 

4:14 – Qatar’s opening performance as host was a disappointment for rest of Asia.

7:21 – Turning to MMA, Chinese UFC star Zhang Weili is back on top with a title win at Madison Square Garden.

9:26 – The 2022 F1 season has come to a close. How did Rookie of the Year Zhou Guanyu perform and what does he have to do in 2023?

14:35 – Meanwhile, the Women’s Tennis Association’s 2023 calendar is out, but there’s no promised return to China.

17:16 – To mark the 50th episode of the podcast, Haig interviews Mark about his book “Sporting Superpower”, timed to coincide with the release of the paperback edition.

18:17 – The reception to the book has been unexpected, with talks on the book’s themes requested from around the world. 

18:55 – What is the book about and why write it?

21:20 – Who is it aimed at?

24:00 – Several athletes are referenced or quoted in the book – what has been their response?

28:12 – Did anyone not like what was written?

28:51 – The challenges of interviewing athletes in China.

33:22 – Who were the most tight-lipped people?

34:34 – Any stories that didn’t make it into the book that deserve a mention here?

37:32 – What would it take for China’s sporting directives to lose focus? 

40:00 – So is China’s sporting future still bright?

45:26 – Are there any plans for a Chinese version of the book?  

48:25 – Some parting words from Haig.

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2:00 – Marathons around the country have been getting postponed or canceled, but Beijing’s big race remains on — for now.

5:54 – China is rumored to be launching a bid for the 2031 Women’s World Cup. What can we read into this?

7:03 – A funny story from the aftermath of the Beijing Olympics, involving a Swiss snowboarder and an unusual tattoo.

9:51 – Our guest this episode is Feng Tao, co-founder of sports marketing firm Shankai Sports, which has brokered some of the biggest deals in Chinese sports industry history and has held exclusive hospitality rights for China for every World Cup since 2010. 

12:47 – The history of how many Chinese soccer fans traveled to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, as well as subsequent tournaments.

17:04 – What will it be like if/when China gets back into the World Cup? The number of traveling fans could be insane.

17:54 – This year in Qatar, however, has been a very different picture in terms of Chinese fan involvement.

19:26 – But there are some Chinese sponsors who will have a visible presence throughout the tournament. 

22:50 – Most Chinese sponsors have come from the consumer electronics sector, but dairy firm Mengniu has a very different strategy. 

25:27 – The challenges of promoting Chinese brands with international markets.

29:23 – Has the global perception of China impacted business around the world?

30:03 – Feng Tao explains what he will be doing on the ground in Qatar later this month.

32:40 – How Alibaba’s multi-year Olympic deal came to be and Jack Ma’s “marriage” with Thomas Bach.

34:40 – How has China’s sports industry adapted to COVID-zero? 

36:43 – One side effect of the country’s shutdown has been the growth of the domestic market.

40:27 – That’s resulted in a number of strategy pivots across the board.

42:12 – Some parting words for foreign brands and industry reps on staying involved in China.

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0:50 Some parallels between the handling of the Hu Jintao and Peng Shuai incidents.

7:17 Following on from Part I, which outlined the top seven sporting figures of the past decade, we move to Part II and reveal who are the stars to watch – starting at the top (again, no spoilers!). Out with the old, in with the…old? 

10:39 Second up is Mark’s pick for best female athlete of the future. 

13:05 The best male athlete serves up a surprise.

17:31 The best Olympian of the future is female, competes in a water sport, and has already reached the very top. Does that narrow it down?

19:35 The fifth award – for best team – has a new name and a new stadium. 

23:34 The People’s Choice award resonated with the public this year. But this superstar’s staying power is the only question…

26:34 The coveted last slot, and winner of the DRESPY, comes out of left field. 

30:00 Haig vents a bit about quarantine as the hosts prepare for their in-person reunion.

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0:40 – It’s Day 8 of quarantine for Mark on his return to Beijing and he’s been preoccupied by the fascinating waste disposal process.

6:00 – Former guest on the show Cameron Dicker, who grew up in Shanghai, stars for the Philadelphia Eagles in his NFL debut as the Eagles stay unbeaten.

10:50 – In honor of the upcoming 20th Party Congress, Mark reveals his top 7 China sports figures of the past in a very special – and somewhat tongue-in-cheek culminating in a new award (no spoilers).

14:12 – Best female and male athletes.

18:08 – Best Olympian and best team awards. 

21:06 – And you won’t want to miss the People’s Choice or the DRESPY awards.

Stay tuned to see who will be in the new sporting Standing Committee – revealed next week!

28:10 Mark gives Haig a few pointers for his upcoming quarantine.

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1:20: The FIFA World Cup is approaching. How much buzz will there be in China?

3:23: Mike Pompeo was in Taiwan this week and Mark had a passing glimpse

5:39: The Chinese women’s basketball team is into the semis at the FIBA World Cup and could challenge for a medal for the first time in 28 years.

9:33: Eileen Gu poses for her first day at school as she joins a strong list of student athletes at Stanford

12:36: Chess has been in the news for all the wrong reasons recently and a Chinese woman grandmaster has been on the end of some sexist comments

15:11: Beijing 2022 mascot Bing Dwen Dwen rides off into the sunset

18:52: The World Team Table Tennis Championships kick off this week in Chengdu, just weeks after the city exited a lockdown, showing just how important the sport is to China.

22:04: Our guest this week is Ivy Liao, a Canadian table tennis player competing in Chengdu. She speaks to us from inside the bubble.

22:23: Liao tells the story of her arduous journey to Chengdu, with all international athletes having to take a charter flight from with Dubai or Singapore, as she prepared to compete in Zero-COVID conditions.

24:38: The mental side looms large in athletes’ minds when playing in a bubble. What lies ahead for players at the event?

27:00: But have the Chinese players been mixing with players from other countries at all?

31:00 The nature of team competition: competing against an international teammate versus only playing someone from another country.

34:57: Why is China so good at table tennis and how can the rest of the world catch up?

40:20: Over the years, dozens of players from China have naturalized overseas in order to represent other countries in international competition. How are these “exports” viewed within the game?

46:40: Liao talks about her previous visits to China and connecting with her own Chinese heritage.

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0:45: Mark recounts his earthquake experience in Taiwan and highlights how the cluster of former China journalists now based on the island is affecting the overall narrative.

6:03: The livestream is back for a second week — with one crucial difference thanks to feedback from a listener/viewer.

8:10: F1 releases its 2023 calendar. Shanghai is down for April 23, but Mark promises to eat Haig’s hat if the race actually takes place.

14:32: A discussion about short-term thinking, and how it affects the development of sports in China, especially when long-term horizons are essential. That’s why David Beckham was brought to China as a CSL Ambassador, but had very little effect.

17:01: Vladimir Putin has floated the idea of an alternative sporting competition with China, India and other SCO nations. It sounds rather like – in fact just like – the Olympics.

21:47: A former UCLA basketball player, Jalen Hill, died in Costa Rica this week, aged 22. He spoke eloquently a year ago of battling some demons, linked to a fateful trip to China in 2017.

27:04: Nike is getting in on the podcasting bandwagon in China. What can we expect?

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0:45 The (new!) livestream starts with some differences in playing club tennis around the world.

2:37 Both hosts express anxiety about their upcoming returns to Beijing.

5:14 Chengdu is set to go ahead with the World Team Table Tennis Championships later this month, despite an ongoing lockdown. What lessons have organizers learned from the Beijing Olympic closed loop? And has China’s dominance in the sport impacted the decision to proceed?

11:58 One of the biggest storylines from Beijing 2022, the Kamila Valieva doping scandal, has some updates from Russia. What can we expect next — and when? 

16:44 A shoutout to former podcast guest Rachel Llanes, who just accepted a job with the San Jose Sharks organization.

18:24: The IOC releases its human rights strategy six months after the Beijing Olympics. What’s the significance of this, especially given the recent UN report on Xinjiang? 

20:48: What does this mean for future Olympic host cities? Could Saudi Arabia ever be in the mix? 

23:38: Chelsea’s new American owner suggested the possibility of an All-Star game for the Premier League, with English fans up in arms. But is it really such a big deal? 

27:53: A Bloomberg report this week says that Fosun, the Chinese conglomerate that owns Premier League team Wolverhampton Wanderers, may be in financial trouble. What does that mean for the club? 

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The China Sports Insider Podcast is back after a busy summer and will continue to evolve as Zero COVID continues to dominate the sports industry in China.

6:10 – To illustrate that point, the Chinese women’s volleyball team competed at a recent tournament in the Philippines wearing N95 masks during their game — something that drew unusual criticism from fans online.

8:48 – The big scandal of the Chinese sporting summer was former badminton world champion Ye Zhaoying revealing to Danish TV that she’d been ordered her to throw her 2000 Olympics semifinal game against teammate, Gong Zhichao, to give Gong the best chance of winning gold for China. There’s much more to this story, too.

12:20 – Can tanking ever be justified if, for example, it means there’s a greater chance to win a gold medal? A full-throated discussion with plenty of examples from the wide world of sports.

19:06 – Chinese tennis set records at the U.S. Open, but — for a change — it was the men leading the charge, with 22-year-old Wu Yibing making it to the third round. He’s one for the future after a stellar 2022, but has his development already been stunted?

25:21 – The WTA says their Finals will be held in Texas this year, after which they are “hopeful” of a return to China, but there are two main issues standing in the way — Zero COVID and Peng Shuai — so what happens next?

32:00 – Let us know what you’d like to hear on future episodes of the show. We’ll start with a debut livestream next week and take it from there!

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In an special interview edition of the show, Mark and Haig speak to Yonina Chan, who helps run the Beijing chapter of the famed Israeli self-defense system Krav Maga. (0:55) What is Krav Maga and how did Chan get into it? (2:45) One of the hottest topics in China over the last month was about the incident in Tangshan, where a group of men assaulted a group of women in a restaurant. What stood out to her about that? (5:34) What specifically made this incident a complex situation? (7:30) A rundown and explanation of different levels and strands of violence and how to evaluate them. (12:10) The importance of not victim-blaming while trying to understand the psychology behind an escalation of violence. (15:45) How the representation of violence in the media feeds into attitudes toward violence. (20:23) From a sports perspective, what kind of impact has MMA fighter Zhang Weili had on martial arts in China?

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(0:55) Recent podcast guest and F1 driver Zhou Guanyu finally has some good luck, finishing eighth at the Montreal Grand Prix. (1:36) He’s a fun follow on social media, sharing insider clips and not afraid to laugh at himself, (2:15) and the race itself was worth staying up into the small hours for — at least for Mark. (3:16) Haig attempts to steer the conversation back to his beloved Canada and their World Cup pursuits, (4:05) before the hosts discuss a new sports law in China that apparently is designed to protect the country’s honor on the world stage.

(7:03) Meanwhile, China and Taiwan have fired shots over an ID issue at the World Cup in Qatar: how to refer to Taiwanese fans — and will any of them actually be going? (8:36) The ATP’s Shanghai Masters says it’s going to be expanding from 2023, but the boys think this sounds premature — both from a COVID perspective as well as from a reputational and political angle. (11:19) Could tennis’s China swing be expanded, too? Probably not. (12:18) Make sure to check out an exciting new feature — Tweet of the Week — featuring a former NFL player, China, some toilet humor — and a bridge. Send in your suggestions for next week!

(14:30) Our guest this week is Hong Kong-based journalist Jonathan White, who’s covered sports in the Greater China region for well over a decade. (14:50) What did he make of an SCMP op-ed this week on Hong Kong’s recent sporting revival, and what lessons can the rest of China learn from what Hong Kong has achieved? (21:30) International headlines coming out of the city recently have tended to be fairly grim, but is sporting success improving morale in Hong Kong?

(24:33) Hong Kong’s football team just qualified for the Asian Cup for the first time in more than 50 years. How popular is the team in normal times? (26:51) And how soon will it be until fans can see another home game? (28:38) What about the hardcore support? How many fans will travel to support Hong Kong in the Asian Cup next summer — wherever it may be held?

(31:15) As a journalist, what are the differences White’s witnessed covering sports in both the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong? Hong Kong venues typically are more welcoming, it appears. (33:56) Mark compares the role of media outlets around the world: in China, it’s essentially PR, so why would Chinese teams want pesky journalists asking actual questions? (37:51) A discussion about the role (or lack of) fan engagement, (42:06) before White ends with some of his favorite China stories, including challenging US sprinter Jon Drummond to a race while out drinking during the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

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