Popular Sports in China

Sports has formed an important part of the lives of the Chinese people ever since the beginning of the civilization till the present day. Archaeologists have unearthed evidence of certain health building sports that were played in China about 4000 years ago. Hunting, archery and rowing races are some of the earliest sports played by the people here. There is evidence of a sport similar to football being played in China around 1000 AD. However, the Asian Giant embraced modern sports only as recently as the 20th century. Through its government's support and the interest of the people in general, the country has been producing players of immense talent in the world of sports. The following paragraphs discuss some of the popular sports in China.

Table Tennis
Table tennis, a game that originated in England, now is one of the most popular sports in China. Its official name in the country is Ping Pong. In this game two teams of one or two players each hit a small hollow ball across a hard table that is divided by a net. Table tennis became an Olympic sport in 1988. Since then the Chinese have won 16 out of the 20 gold medals on offer. Chinese table tennis champions like Wang Ho (in the men's category) and Zhang Yinning (among the women) enjoy celebrity status in their homeland. Table tennis is taken very seriously in China and hence the country has always managed to produce quality players. China maintained its position as the world champions by lifting the title for the third time in a row in the 2009 H.I.S. World Table Tennis Championships held in Yokohama, Japan. Many other countries like Japan, South Korea and Australia also have had players of Chinese origin in their winning teams.

Badminton
This sport is played on a hard court divided by a net. It can be played in singles and doubles too, with each player using a racquet (or racket) to hit the shuttlecock. Since the inception of the World Badminton Championships in 1977, China has dominated the event wining 40 golds, with Indonesia in second position with 18 golds. In fact, the dominance of this Asian Giant in badminton is so much that it has sparked fears that the sport may soon become 'boring'. Like table tennis, this sport also originated in England. However, it is an established sport in China and is taken up by Chinese children quite early in life. No wonder the country has produced a string of world class players like Zhang Ning, Lin Dan, Gao Ling, and Huang Sui.

Basketball
After the USA and Canada, China is oldest country that started playing basketball. Basketball arrived in this country in the 1890s and was declared a national past time in 1935. However, basketball became popular only in the 1990s when globalization and the Internet allowed the Chinese population to come in greater contact with the sport being played elsewhere in the world. The first professional team was established in Shenyang which was sponsored by the Anshan Steel Company. The Chinese Basketball Association was formed in 1995. The popularity of the sport touched new heights after Yao Ming joined the NBA as a player of the Houston Rockets in 2002. It is estimated that almost 300 million Chinese play this game. The massive viewership for the screening of the basketball games during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games has led many believe that basketball may soon replace table tennis as the most played game in China.

Chess
With large government support, China is slowly developing as a major chess power of the world. In the 37th Chess Olympiad in Turin, Italy, China emerged as the nation with the best overall performance when its men's team won the second position and the women came third. In 1974, a meeting was held in Kuala Lumpur with the aim of raising the standards of the Asian chess players. It was in recognition of the potential of chess in the country, that it was decided that chess would be first promoted in China under the 'Big Dragon Project'. Despite its lack of experience in comparison to other countries like Russia, Germany and Ukraine, China has five of the top hundred players of the world. Some of the grandmasters that this country has produced are Bu Xiangzhi, Hou Yifan (who became the world's youngest ever female grandmaster) and Li Chao.

China has also excelled in other sports like boxing and gymnastics. Despite the failure of its national team to perform well in the international arena, football also has a huge fan following in the country. Cricket which is a relatively new sport in China is slowly gaining popularity. It's a known fact that when China takes up any sport, it means serious business.