BEIJING (Reuters) – The Chinese company ordered to stop making soccer World Cup mascots because of poor working conditions in their factory hit back at the accusations on Wednesday, saying they were victims of South African politicking.

FIFA’s branding company Global Brands Group (GBG) said on Tuesday that Shanghai Fashion Plastic Products Co. Ltd (SFPPC) must halt production of the Zakumi, the tournament mascot, until it improved working conditions.

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BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s National Games, which claim to be the largest multi-sports event in the world, should be reduced in size to prevent corruption and waste, according to a member of the advisory body to the country’s parliament.

The quadrennial games, first held in 1959 in Beijing when Communist China was isolated from most of the rest of the sporting world, remain the major way the government appraises the work of provincial sports authorities.

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BEIJING (Reuters) – Only one of the some 20 golf courses in Beijing has been developed legally, a member of the law committee in China’s parliament said.

Amid concerns about land grabs of prime farming land, China’s government put a moratorium on the development of new golf courses in 2004 and reinforced the ban last year.

Development has continued, however, and the China Golf Association (CGA) puts the number of courses on the mainland at around 500, mainly clustered around the major cities of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. “There are many golf courses in Beijing, but only the one close to the Ming Tombs has been legally approved,” Sun Anmin, deputy director of the National People’s Congress (NPC) law committee, told Monday’s Beijing Youth Daily.

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BEIJING (Reuters) – Guangzhou’s relegation from China’s top flight for match-fixing has not deterred new owners from buying the soccer club for 100 million yuan ($14.65 million), local media reported on Wednesday.

Guangzhou and Chengdu, who are owned by English club Sheffield United, were demoted from the Chinese Super League (CSL) last week for their part in China’s match-fixing scandal.

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VAUXHALL, South London – The 16^th Asian Games through its broadcast agreement with Radio Guangdong to produce China’s first all-English sports talk show – Asian Games Live! – has expanded its broadcast footprint to include London-based World Radio Network.

The Asian Games are the second largest sports event in the world after the Summer Olympic Games and is hosted by Jeff Ruffolo, a three-time Summer Olympic Sportscaster for US-based Westwood One Radio.

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The International Olympic Committee (IOC) today elected Nanjing, People’s Republic of China, as the host city of the 2nd Summer Youth Olympic Games in 2014 during the 122nd IOC Session in Vancouver, Canada. Nanjing received 47 votes to edge out runner-up Poznan, Poland, which received 42 votes.

“We had two outstanding candidatures from two fantastic cities. Both expressed the spirit of the Youth Olympic Games and both were capable of staging the event,” said IOC President Jacques Rogge. “We are looking forward to working with Nanjing, and are confident the Youth Olympic Games in 2014 will be a success.”

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BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s all-powerful state sports channel cancelled the broadcast of the national team’s match against Japan at the weekend as Chinese soccer continued to reel from the ongoing match-fixing scandal.

The CCTV 5 channel, which owns 85 percent of China’s sports television market, had bought the broadcasting rights to the East Asian Championship tie and had scheduled it for a live broadcast from Tokyo on Saturday evening, local media said.

When fans tuned in for the clash with China’s fiercest rivals, however, they were presented instead with a local version of the long-running European gameshow Jeux Sans Frontier, “Inter-Cities”.

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BEIJING (Reuters) – The 2010 China Open golf championship will be played in Suzhou in April with an increased prize fund of $2.5 million, organisers said on Tuesday.

The 16th version of the tournament will be the richest event on the 10-stop OneAsia Tour and again be co-sanctioned by the European Tour, said a new release.

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BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s golf bosses have restructured the professional game in the country with a new “Greater China Tour”, which will include a six-tournament circuit in place of the China Tour.

The China Tour was launched in 2005 with the aim of providing regular tournament golf for the country’s professionals and, sponsored by Swiss watchmakers Omega, ran four events last year.

The China Golf Association (CGA) have replaced it with the Chinese Pro Golf Championships in a new five-tiered structure for 2010. “I am glad to tell you the China Tour is not dead. It is sill alive and even stronger,” secretary general Zhang Xiaoning told the CGA’s website (www.golf.org.cn).

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GUANGZHOU, China – The 16th Asian Games named three-time Olympic Games Sportscaster Jeff Ruffolo to host Radio Guangdong’s first all-English sports radio talk show dedicated to the Games.

The Asian Games are the second largest sports event in the world after the Summer Olympic Games.

Airing each weekend on Radio Guangdong, Asian Games Live! will focus on the new development and sports activities coming to Guangzhou and the Pearl River Delta before and during The 16th Asian Games which begins November 12.

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