China to orderly resume onsite sports events, boosting industry revival

The General Administration of Sport of China rolled out a set of working plans on Thursday to revive the sports industry by stepping up assistance to enterprises and increasing supplies of sports products, urging onsite sports events to be resumed in an orderly and secure manner and domestic events to be held if possible.

According to the work plan notification, sports events will be increased to help stabilize the economy, promote consumption and stimulate vitality. Sports events will be examined and verified case by case and onsite events will be resumed in a secure and orderly manner.

More outdoor sports events such as mountain climbing, rowing and sailing competitions, and marathons and cycling races will be held.

Besides, the urban leagues of football, basketball and volleyball will be organized and the Chinese youth football league will be launched.

The authorities vow to optimize the competition structure, improve the appreciation of the events and step up efforts to increase broadcasting, noting that domestic events should be held if possible.

The work plan emphasized that public stadiums should be open to the public, and national fitness activities and sports competitions can be organized.

The sports training centers and stadiums at sports schools should be available to the public under the premise that daily training of professional sports teams and epidemic prevention are assured.

In terms of public fitness, the work plan made it clear that all kinds of online sports activities by the public, including the online sports meetings, should continue.

The authorities also vow to promote sports through 40 national pilot sports cities.

A series of measures, including creating new sports scenarios, fostering new forms and models of sports, issuing vouchers for sports activities, and organizing sports festivals to better meet the public's demands for sports activities under the normalization of epidemic prevention and control.

Other measures specified by the work plan to reduce the pressure on sports-related enterprises include reducing rents and speeding up the execution of budget and contract.

Meanwhile, the work plan stresses that the zero-COVID policy will be resolutely implemented and epidemic prevention and control work will be strictly implemented.