By Sophie Elsden.
With China continuing to bolster itself in many areas, it easily exceeds in sports for 2024, and will increasingly do so in 2025, despite a difficult period during COVID. During this unpredictable path, the nation lost both internal and external sporting events, with some being relocated to other host countries, or cancelled outright. However, many levels of sports competitions and subsequent hosting are rapidly returning to China, primarily characterised by the successful hosting of the Formula 1 Grand Prix at the Shanghai International Circuit.
As a result of COVID, China was forced to relocate the Women’s Olympic Football Qualifiers for Asia to Australia in 2020, forfeit their hosting of the Billie Jean King Cup for the Asia/Oceania Zone Group 1 in 2020 and cancel the Hong Kong Marathon in 2020 and 2022. Unfortunately, the country further had to cancel the Tour of Hainan cycling race in 2019-2022, as well as the 2022 Asian Games which ended up being transferred to Japan. Although these were tough decisions to take, China ultimately benefited later on, beginning with the Beijing Winter Olympics of 2022 - highlighting the economic power that China holds while hosting sporting events.
During the Winter Olympics, the event alone generated a profit of US $52 million and produced an increased availability of jobs - 81,000 in total created near the venues. Furthermore, the economy is predicted to benefit massively post-games: an estimated US $107 billion in revenue and over 500 million visitors to visit the snow sports facilities as tourism by the end of 2024-25. Looking at these predictions, there is no doubt that sporting events will bring a multitude of economic opportunities to the host country, and can explain the enthusiasm and dramatic increase for hosting more sporting events in China, making up for the lost time. With their return comes an industry that effortlessly generates massive amounts of income. The revenue in the Sports Events market is estimated to reach US $1.80bn in 2024 for China, outperforming strong economies like Japan (at US $1.20 billion), Germany (at US $0.87 billion) and South Korea (at US $464.60 million).
Already competitions are quickly streaming back to the country, emphasised by the successful 2024 World Women’s Snooker Championship, held in China for the first time, and the World Open for Snooker, which hadn’t been run since 2019, in the same year. The Billie Jean King Cup Asia/Oceania Round Robin tournament also appeared, hosted in Changsha in mid April, boasting another win. Returning with a bang, other events quickly followed, such as the successful Chinese Formula 1 Grand Prix at the Shanghai International Circuit (having been closed from 2020-2023) which re-instilled national pride and excitement with their own Zhou Guanyu in Kick Sauber. This restart of Formula 1, held in China and with their first F1 driver competing, gathered a lot of support, placing China back on the board as a host of sports competitions.
Simultaneously to the F1 Grand Prix, the World Aquatics (previously known as FINA) Diving World Cup Super Final was held in Xi’an, reinforcing China’s position in global sports following its dominant results in Montreal Stop 1 and Berlin Stop 2, as well as its subsequent triumphs in the Super Final. China has also managed to host basketball competitions, with the FIBA Women’s 3x3 series held in both Chengdu (Stop 7) on the 21st to the 22nd of June, and Wuhan (Stop 9) on the 29th to the 30th of June, cementing the growing influence and popularity that basketball is beginning to have in China. This, paired with the success of China’s team in the 9th stop of the 3x3 tournament, will continue to expand the culture of basketball amongst the population, especially in women’s basketball. Moreover, the FIVB Men’s Volleyball Challenger Cup, another event China hosted for the first time, took place in the city of Linyi, with a successful team awarded gold in the competition for the first time.
Future competitions in 2024 include the FIBA Women’s 3x3 series, with Langfang to take up another spot along the way, and Hangzhou preparing to host the final, following the success at both Chengdu and Wuhan, solidifying China’s reputation as a growing figure in basketball by using its previous experience of the 2023 Asian games and facilities to mark the nation’s significance.
With 2025 on the horizon, China has also secured another 2 hosting opportunities, starting the year off with the second China F1 Grand Prix at the Shanghai International Circuit in late March, stop 2 in the 2025 F1 schedule. The country will also continue to fasten its position as a sporting nation with the FIBA Women’s Asia Cup, taking place in Shenzhen with hopes of China’s team winning for the 13th time and placing Japan behind them. In this way, China continues to push forward with popularising basketball even more, and place particular emphasis on women’s basketball, especially after the 3x3 games held in 2024.
China’s success doesn’t end with hosting competitions, as it proves to be at the forefront of results so far in 2024. It has swept the board for diving, both in the World Aquatics Championships in Doha (where it achieved 23 gold medals, 14 medals ahead of second place Team USA) and the World Aquatics Diving World Cup (obtaining 21 gold medals in total, and started strong by beating former mixed team champions Team GB in this first event of Montreal). Both snooker competitions followed, with 1st place for Bai Yulu in the Women’s Championship, and Ding Junhui as runner-up in the World Open. China remained dominant in other areas too, gaining an undefeated 1st place in the Billie Jean King Cup in the Asia/Oceania Zone for Group 1, qualifying for the same year’s playoffs. With basketball, China’s emphasis on the sport has paid off well, with its women’s 3x3 team securing a 2nd place at Chengdu and a win at Wuhan. Finally, China also placed 1st in the FIVB Men’s Volleyball Challenger Cup.
Despite some turbulence created by COVID, and causing many competitions to be cancelled or switched to other nations, China has easily climbed its way back onto the board as a hosting nation. It has cemented its place first with both snooker competitions, but signified its dominance nationally with the return of F1. Furthermore, China remains superior in many aspects of sports, especially diving, but also shows off several wins in newer areas, such as volleyball, and increasing success in basketball. Without a doubt, China’s influence has returned, and will create massive amounts of competition in the future.
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