If it’s about sports and there’s a China angle, we’ll talk about it in the China Sports Insider Podcast. Mark Dreyer is the China Sports Insider. He’s worked for Sky Sports, Fox Sports, AP Sports and many others, and has covered major sporting events on five continents, including three Olympic Games 2008-12. He has been based in China since 2007. Produced and hosted by Haig Balian, a journalist and filmmaker who hosts and produces The Beijing Sessions podcast.
On the show this week, the Peng Shuai story goes international in a big way (3:10), the financial consequences of sports leagues leaving China (5:11), different types of Olympic boycotts and what’s most likely for Beijing 2022 (8:18).
Then we interview Joshua Lee from Perfect World, a massive Chinese gaming company, to talk about the recent win from Chinese gaming team EDG and more (13:26). Josh runs esports tournaments in China and talks about the advantages China has over the rest of the world in esports (15:17), EDG’s world championship victory and the mass celebration across China (16:35), offline gatherings for the online community (17:55), the typical esports demographic in China (19:09), a gaming debut at the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou (22:34), whether the Olympics need esports more than esports needs the Olympics (24:16), China’s new law restricting gaming time for minors (26:34), the true numbers of gamers in China (28:38), and the links between esports and traditional sports leagues (31:30).
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