BEIJING - To commemorate the devastating Wenchuan earthquake in 2008, China Sport Show, a nationwide exhibition of sporting goods, will head to Chengdu, capital city of Sichuan province.

The show, inaugurated in 1993 and coming into its 28th edition (two editions a year since 2002), will start in Chengdu on May 13, the day after the third anniversary of the earthquake that killed more than 80,000 people. It will close on May 16.

So far, a record 1,100 international and domestic sporting goods enterprises have been registered for the show. They will be displayed in six sections - sportswear, outdoor, tennis and badminton, ball games, gym and sports venue facilities. It is a huge improvement on the inaugural show held in Xi'an in 1993, when about 100 enterprises took part.

"The fast improvement of China Sport Show signals the booming Chinese sports industry," said Yang Shu'an, vice-director of the China State General Administration of Sport.

Yang said the show comes at a good time after the Chinese government unveiled in February the five-year plan for the national fitness program covering 2011 to 2015.

"The new plan that is expected to get more Chinese people doing sports regularly will inject more energy into China's sports industry and into the China Sport Show," Yang said.

China Daily

(China Daily 04/14/2011 page23)