WTA tournaments will return to China this year after the Tour ended its boycott over concerns about the safety of the Chinese player Peng Shuai. The decision represents a significant U-turn in the Women’s Tennis Association’s policy since its president and chief executive, Steve Simon, took the decision to suspend tournaments in China in December 2021 after a high-profile row with Beijing over the player’s wellbeing. Peng had accused Zhang Gaoli, the former Chinese vice-premier, of sexual assault in a lengthy post on the Chinese social media platform Weibo. The…
Tag: Sport
TV tonight: Taiwan’s battle with China to hold on to independence
Inside Taiwan: Standing Up to China 9pm, BBC Two Jane Corbin’s densely packed documentary investigates the precarious situation in Taiwan. President Xi Jinping’s government is accused of misinformation in its campaign to reunify the island with China, while Taiwan’s first female head of state, Tsai Ing-wen – overwhelmingly voted for by young people – faces a big battle to retain independence. Interviewees include a pro-Beijing campaigner and former gang leader, who shares footage of his party members battling pro-independence students. Hollie Richardson Dragons’ Den 8pm, BBC One How do you…
Chinese football stars and officials held in Xi’s corruption crackdown
Sergio Agüero may be one of the greatest strikers of his generation, but he won an even rarer accolade in 2015, when he became the first – and last – Premier League footballer to take a selfie with Xi Jinping, China’s football-loving leader. The photo, taken at Manchester City’s stadium – with then prime minister David Cameron – comes from an era when Xi was fostering warm relations with the UK and pushing China to become a world football superpower by 2050, both ambitions that seem distant possibilities today. In…
China’s football crisis: what happened next after Covid struck?
There cannot be many, if any, leagues that have been affected by the pandemic as much as the Chinese Super League. It was the first to deal with Covid-19 and, with China keeping stringent restrictions on daily life longer than elsewhere, the last to operate in tightly controlled conditions. With Beijing’s so-called zero-Covid policy recently abandoned, the country of 1.4bn people is finally opening up and this can only be good news for its beleaguered football industry. 2019 seems like a lifetime ago. Back then the league may have been…
F1 facing four-week hole in schedule with no replacement for Chinese GP
Formula One will have a four-week hole in this season’s calendar after the sport confirmed the Chinese Grand Prix would not be replaced. The race in Shanghai – which had been due to take place on 16 April – was cancelled last month amid ongoing coronavirus restrictions in the country. Despite Chinese officials subsequently moving away from their zero-Covid policy, the round could not be salvaged, marking the fourth season it has been scrubbed from the racing schedule. F1 executives assessed a number of options to fill the vacant slot…
Qatar’s World Cup of woe: inside the 18 November Guardian Weekly
Ordinarily a football World Cup would be a moment for celebration, a time to savour sport’s power to unite nations and a glorious distraction from the problems of the day. Not this time: the 2022 tournament has been mired in controversy since it was awarded to Qatar 12 years ago. The small but ultra-wealthy Middle Eastern state thought that hosting the world’s most-watched sporting event would showcase it as a major player on the global stage. But instead Qatar has come in for severe criticism on a number of fronts,…
Peng Shuai demonstrators at Wimbledon allege harassment by security staff
Activists wearing “Where is Peng Shuai?” T-shirts claim they were confronted by Wimbledon security staff who warned them against approaching spectators and political messaging at SW19. Nine-time champion Martina Navratilova expressed her anger at the move after the campaigners posted a video online saying they were stopped and questioned. The group of four men from the Free Tibet campaign said they came to Wimbledon to “raise a bit of awareness” about the Chinese tennis player, a former doubles world No 1. The 36-year-old disappeared from public view for weeks last…
China pulls Premier League TV coverage over shows of solidarity with Ukraine
Premier League matches will be blocked by Chinese broadcasters this weekend because of planned displays of solidarity with Ukraine. Under the banner “Football Stands Together”, club captains will wear armbands in the colours of Ukraine this weekend and a “moment of reflection and solidarity” will take place before kick-off. The gestures of solidarity are to feature in international broadcast feeds of all Premier League fixtures, and the league’s Chinese broadcast partner, IQIYI Sports, has informed the league that matches will not be broadcast in the country as a result. This…
Russia head for court to overturn ban on athletes at Winter Paralympics
Russia is launching a last-ditch court appeal after its athletes were banned from the Beijing Winter Paralympics on the eve of competition after a U-turn by the International Paralympic Committee. The IPC had announced on Thursday that it was reversing its shock decision 24 hours earlier to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete as neutrals following intense international pressure, but will now see its decision challenged in the court of arbitration for sport. The Russian sports minister, Oleg Matytsin, confirmed an appeal to let its athletes compete – which…
China told Russia not to invade Ukraine during Winter Olympics, report says
Senior Chinese officials told senior Russian officials in early February not to invade Ukraine before the end of the Winter Olympics in Beijing, the New York Times reported, quoting Biden administration officials and a European official who cited a western intelligence report. The New York Times said the intelligence report indicated senior Chinese officials had some level of knowledge about Russia’s plans or intentions to invade Ukraine before Moscow launched the operation last week. A source familiar with the matter confirmed to Reuters that China had made the request but…