Chinese hockey?

[Albatros]

No one in China sees the men's ice hockey team's performance at the Winter Olympics as a humiliating performance. Even the initial goal set by the national team was not to lose badly when they were eliminated, and they have achieved that. Ice hockey has been played in China in the past year, though more often in tournaments such as the national Winter Games than in leagues. Meanwhile, the women's professional league(allowing teams to sign foreign players) is underway, with playoffs scheduled for late January. There are also more and more youth leagues and tournaments.
On the other hand, hockey is not the only sport, nor is it special. So what if Chinese hockey sucks? More fans are still focused on the NHL or KHL, and the NHL's inability to compete with NBA or MLB in the Chinese market is their problem, not the problem of Chinese hockey. Chinese soccer is much worse, but that doesn't stop fans from paying to watch European leagues.

This so-called women's "professional" league consists of three separate one-week tournaments. In other words three weeks of play without home games or anything of that sort.

 

[Smirnov2Chistov]

I still come back to this thread every once in a while..

Still very skeptical on how China will develop into a hockey 'powerhouse' over time. They would need a domestic junior-minor-major tier system that (I don't think) is in place. Excuse my ignorance, but what sports are popular over there? Basketball has to be a number 1?

 

[EvilDead]

I still come back to this thread every once in a while..

Still very skeptical on how China will develop into a hockey 'powerhouse' over time. They would need a domestic junior-minor-major tier system that (I don't think) is in place. Excuse my ignorance, but what sports are popular over there? Basketball has to be a number 1?

Outside of the individual sports like track and field, tennis, badminton, table tennis, swimming, and the like, the most popular team sport in China is indeed basketball and by a wide margin. Soccer is distant second.

 

[Albatros]

Table tennis, badminton etc. are also team sports with professional leagues in China. But besides these also volleyball is quite popular.

 

[alko]

Im surprised, why is China so weak in team sports. There must be some reasons, but i dont know, what they are.

 

[BE Friend]

1 billion people? CCP will pluck 100 out and turn them into unbeatable robots. With Canadian coaches of course.
Its a mathematical certainty..
All the gear is made in China already.

 

[Albatros]

1 billion people? CCP will pluck 100 out and turn them into unbeatable robots. With Canadian coaches of course.
Its a mathematical certainty..
All the gear is made in China already.

Yup, like in soccer earlier this week where after decades and billions of dollars of investment they didn't score a single goal in the Asian Cup group stage as they were eliminated by Qatar, Tajikistan, and Lebanon.

 

[BE Friend]

Yup, like in soccer earlier this week where after decades and billions of dollars of investment they didn't score a single goal in the Asian Cup group stage as they were eliminated by Qatar, Tajikistan, and Lebanon.

Ok, but we are talking about real sports. 0-0 in soccer is about as common as the sun rising in the east.

 

[lawrence]

Im surprised, why is China so weak in team sports. There must be some reasons, but i dont know, what they are.

They are more academic focused. We can ask why doesn