Chinese rugby gets boost from Mizuno deal
BEIJING - From a minnow to an Asian powerhouse and from only a few dozen players to a number of about 800, rugby in China has made impressive progress over the past decade.
With rugby sevens being admitted into the 2016 Olympic Games, the sport is receiving extra boosts from government and public support.
The latest is a sponsorship deal with Japanese sportswear giant Mizuno.
"We appreciate the increasing support from the public and companies like Mizuno," said Chinese Rugby Association vice-president Li Dazheng on Friday during the two sides' sponsorship agreement. "We hope to use the Olympics as a chance to promote the sport nationwide. Rugby is a beautiful sport and I'm confident it will become very popular in China in the future."
Li said the first rugby team in China was established in 1990 and there were only a few people playing the sport and the country was "nowhere" on the international rugby map. Things have changed in recent years as the -women's national team won the 2006, 2009 and 2010 Asian Championships and the men's side finished third at the 2007 and 2009 Asian Championships and second in the 2010 continental tournament.
"Our men's team even beat Scotland, England and Canada in recent years," Li said. "All these achievements mean we have the potential to lift the sport here to a much higher level.
"Now the rugby sevens has been introduced into the 2016 Olympics, China will pay extra attention to the sport and more Chinese people will start to know the sport and play it."
Li said there are 14 provinces and cities and 16 universities that now have their own rugby teams and about 800 athletes are registered with various associations.
Mizuro also currently has sponsorship deals with the national table tennis and judo teams.
China Daily
(China Daily 06/19/2011 page7)
