Off the wire
• 2nd Ld-Writethru: China's industrial profit growth accelerates to 14.5 pct in November  • Roundup: S.Korean presidential hopeful raises doubt about THAAD capability, aim behind deployment  • 7 Vietnamese proposed death penalties for sale of 5,000 heroin cakes  • 2nd LD: China issues white paper on space activities  • Chinese football investments move European leagues forward: experts  • "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" tops North American box office for second time  • China sees bigger service trade deficit in November  • 1st LD Writethru: Main flight recorder of crashed Russian Tu-154 retrieved  • Former Sri Lankan prime minister passes away at 83  • Chinese shares close lower Tuesday  
You are here: 　 Home

Yearender: Chinese sports 2016 year in review

Xinhua, December 27, 2016 Adjust font size:

Following are the top Chinese sports news items in 2016 selected by Xinhua News Agency (in time sequence):

1. Over a year into preparation for the 2022 Winter Olympics, co-hosts Beijing and Zhangjiakou are off to a solid start in Olympic venues planning and the construction of supporting infrastructure in 2016.

The construction of Olympic facilities will start in 2017, including construction of venues for biathlon, cross-country skiing, and ski jumping. Also slated to begin is the renovation of Yunding Ski Field, the proposed venue for alpine skiing. Meanwhile, the construction of new high-speed railways and freeways to connect Beijing and Zhangjiakou has started, with other related projects set to start very soon. The time needed for inter-city travel will be reduced to less than 50 minutes after completion of the projects.

2. Sichuan won its final series 4-1 against Liaoning to claim the 2015-2016 Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) title in March and become the fifth champions of the CBA's 21-year history. Sichuan recovered from an opening game loss to win four straight games for their first ever championship in only their third CBA season. Only four clubs - Bayi, Guangdong, Shanghai and Beijing - had won the title earlier.

3. In March, Chinese company Wanda Group signed a major sponsorship contract with FIFA, which will grant Wanda the highest level of sponsorship rights, including the next four editions of the FIFA World Cup. Wanda also paid 1.05 billion euros to buy Infront Sports and Media, a leading worldwide marketing group, and bought the World Triathlon Corporation for 650 million euros last year.

4. Former Houston Rockets center Yao Ming was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2016 on April 4 for his role in helping to spread the NBA's popularity to China. The NBA said that Yao changed the face of global basketball as a respected player and ambassador of the game to China.

5. Keeping up a sound and steady pace of development, the Chinese sports industry was booming in 2016. The National Fitness Program (2016-2020) and the 13th Five-year Plan on the Sports Industry were both issued this year to offer a clear direction for China's national strategy of ensuring public fitness and the development of the sports industry.

China's State General Administration of Sports, jointly with many other national governmental departments, also published policies and plans on winter sports, water sports, aero sports, mountainous outdoor sports and other activities. These will serve as a road map for the development of the Chinese sports industry in the coming years.

6. The World Anti-Doping Agency lifted its suspension of the Beijing anti-doping lab on August 15 after the lab had been banned for nearly four months due to a technical oversight.

7. China won 26 gold, 18 silver and 26 bronze medals and finished second on the medals table at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Chinese athletes also set five world records and 12 Olympic records in Rio this year. In the Paralympic Games, the Chinese delegation topped the table for the fourth consecutive time with 107 gold, 81 silver and 51 bronze medals. That was the delegation's best performance since 1984, as China became only the third country to win 100 gold medals in a single edition of the Paralympics.

8. Chinese sailing legend Guo Chuan, 51, went missing in the Pacific Ocean during an attempt to set a new solo non-stop trans-Pacific world record from San Francisco to Shanghai, setting sail on October 19. He was last heard from on October 25 when his trimaran sailed 900 nautical miles off the west of Hawaii. In 2013, Guo became the first sailor from China to complete a non-stop solo circumnavigation of the globe.

9. Chinese soccer suffered a bittersweet 2016 which saw the women's national team make last eight at the Rio Olympics, while men's team have gone winless in their first five games in the round of 12 tournament of the 2018 Russia World Cup qualifiers. Former coach Gao Hongbo announced his resignation and Italian Marcello Lippi took his place. Meanwhile, China's national soccer reform plan is moving ahead at full steam, with the vision of turning the country into a football powerhouse.

10. The CBA incorporated its own company on September 22, which paved the way for future reform and development of the Chinese professional basketball league. Endit