Cricket wakes up in the Land of Sleeping Giant
As the British media is busy contemplating their Prime Minister David Cameron’s “largest ever delegation” to China, the Sports media is busy following the latest confusion and chronicles of run-away Pakistani wicket keeper Zulqarnain Haider.
On the other hand, the world is anxiously waiting for the Asian Games to get underway from November 12th.
The 2010 Asian Games are scheduled to start in Guangzhou, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/China-c40996 and the most exciting part of the games-other than the dragons and identical looking Chinese people in the opening ceremony- is the debut of the Twenty20 format of Cricket in China.
It might not be of any interest right now as juicy controversies are looming large over the game but it is a novelty at least to have China and Cricket in the same sentence.
Now China is a big country, and not only population–wise but in terms of the alluring market it possesses. Its rich civilization is identified by their leading position in the development of technology and productivity. Their history is marked by great inventions
in the agriculture system, medicine knowledge, astronomical advances, automobile industry, fabrics-you name it and the Chinese people have something to do with it.
Sports in China have always been associated with Martial Arts and Bruce http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Lee-c72382 movies. All the Chinese sports are based on the underlying principle of “productive activity” which would help in attaining “physical fitness.” Table-tennis, Ping pong, Basketball,
Gymnastics, Badminton, and Football has been their main forte.
As the professional sports giants turn their heads to the Chinese market, it was time that cricket also smashes a boundary in the most fascinating market of Asia.
Cricket has firmly set its foot on the Sub-continent’s soil as http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bangladesh-c747 are passionately crazy for the game. The game was considered too complex for the Chinese and for decades it was banned under communism for being a symbol
of servitude to the imperialists.
However, a look into the history of the sport in China reveals a certain Shanghai Cricket Club was functioning from 1866 to 1948, but was never recognized as an official national team.
The pursuit of making a name for themselves in an area relatively new to their country was recognized by the Chinese officials around 1996 when they were amazed by how a small island like Sri Lanka could beat an entire continent, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 in the World Cup
of cricket.
The Chinese are always looking for practicality and what they saw was the immense coverage the game was getting throughout Asia and abroad which could be translated into the millions of dollars they could get.
Hence, China began its campaign to enter the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) which is the “regional administrative” body of International Cricket Council (ICC). The Chinese Cricket Association (CCA) became successful in their efforts when they became an affiliate
member in 2004. The ICC granted China this status as they realized that the game cannot be called a global game when one-fifth of the world’s population doesn’t know what cricket is.
The CCA started taking help from their political arch rival neighbor, India, and their friend http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755. India saw their own benefits in turning their obsession with the game in to a “global” money spinner. Whereas Pakistan offered their full support to China’s
national team squad as they appointed Pakistani cricket great, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Javed-Miandad-c66580, as one of their mentors for building the infrastructure for the game in China.
But of course ICC saw billions and billions of rupees going into their bank account. Cricket may not be a big-money game as per the professional games standard are concerned but their broadcasting rights are enough to make the big guys in Dubai headquarters
billionaires for years to come.
The market would be bankable for the official sponsors of ICC such as PepsiCo and LG electronics. Other potential sponsors like General Motors can also throw in their millions of dollars into this sport as they are already raking in a lot by sponsoring golf
in China.
Cricket enthusiasts might be having heated debates about whether the game is still considered to be a “gentleman’s sport” but one thing is for sure that the game is finding new grounds for itself and China offers a strong opportunity that cannot be missed.
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