China

A new 24-hour soccer channel will be launched this year for the Asian market with the content initially available to audiences in Greater China, Hong Kong and Bejing.

Meddling councils and tourist bodies in Sydney are creating a bureaucratic nightmare for overseas television stations hoping to film in the Olympic city during the run-up to this year's Games, reports the South China Morning Post.

The IOC has confirmed that ten cities have submitted preliminary bids for the 2008 Summer Games.

Japan has thrown its hat into the ring to host the 2008 Summer Olympics, officially entering Osaka as its candidate and vowing a "clean" campaign to win the right to hold the games.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said it would send an envoy to North Korea to initiate friendly sports exchanges between arch enemies North and South Korea.

Asian soccer chiefs will decide on Tuesday whether to heed a call to boycott the 2002 World Cup in emergency talks on the region's representation in the finals.

Confusion over scheduling, disputes over judges' decisions, rumours of food poisoning and an upside down flag are some of the problems faced by organisers of this week's Asian Winter Games in South Korea.

The 20th Southeast Asian games begin on Saturday with attention focused as much on the tiny sultanate of Brunei as the actual competition itself.

The Japanese unit of global communications company Pacific Century CyberWorks (PCCW) is to form a joint venture with Japan's largest entertainment television content firm Yoshimoto Kogyo Co Ltd. to develop sports and entertainment content.

A squad of top NBA players will visit China and Taiwan in September for two exhibition games, the National Basketball Association has announced.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell says the US is still deciding whether to adopt a stance on Beijing's bid for the 2008 Olympic Games but is sensitive to the idea of not mixing politics with sport.

Organisers of the 2005 world athletics championships said on Thursday they are not concerned that London mayor Ken Livingstone has refused to sign a contract with the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF).

The Indian government says it will ban smoking in public places and the sponsorship of sporting events by tobacco firms in a bid to lower cigarette-related deaths.

Soccer's world governing body FIFA said on Sunday it was open to the idea of sponsors names on national team shirts but insisted they would not be allowed at the 2002 World Cup. FIFA president Sepp Blatter said the association's executive had discussed the idea at an end-of-year meeting in Rome but wanted to examine it further before making a decision.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) will visit Beijing in February next year ahead of the vote in July to decide the host city of the 2008 Games, a Chinese Olympic bid official said on Tuesday.

ESPN Star Sports (ESS) has promoted Vib Sharma to senior vice president, advertising and integrated sales.