Sponsors back out of Asiad due to crisis

The global economic meltdown has affected the preparations for the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games, with a number of sponsors backing out, the mayor of the capital of Guangdong province said yesterday.

"No one can avoid the impact of the financial crisis, which has had an affect on the preparations for the upcoming Games," Mayor Zhang Guangning, a deputy to the National People's Congress (NPC), told China Daily.

The Asian Games' organizing committee is facing "some difficulties developing stadiums, and finding sponsors, Zhang said, without elaborating further.