PYEONGCHANG, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) -- Two entrepreneurs from the Chinese sports industry took part in the torch relay for the PyeongChang Olympic Winter Games in the city of Donghae on Tuesday.
Ding Shizhong, the Chairman and CEO of China's ANTA Sports, and Zheng Jie, Executive Director of the same company, joined the relay at the invitation of Thomas Bach, President of the International Olympic Committee.
Ding said that it was the second time for him as a torch bearer since the Beijing Summer Olympics in 2008, and compared to 10 years ago, he now has "a different sense of mission."
"This time I came here at the center of the world-class stage as a representative of the rising Chinese brand," Ding said.
Over the past 10 years, China's sportswear market has grown rapidly, with the country's vision of becoming a sports superpower gradually coming into view. By 2025 the scale of the market is expected to reach 5 trillion Chinese yuan (795.65 billion U.S. dollars), Ding said.
In January 2018, ANTA Sports' market capitalization exceeded 100 billion Hong Kong dollars (12.79 billion U.S. dollars), ranking it third in this industry globally. This shows a fivefold increase compared to ten years ago, according to Ding.
"The 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, which follows the PyeongChang Olympics, will provide new opportunities for the development of the Chinese sports industry," Zheng added.
The PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Torch Relay began its South Korean journey on Nov.1, 2017 in the city of Incheon. A total of 7,500 runners will participate in the 2,018-kilometer relay before it ends on Feb. 9 at Pyeongchang's Olympic Stadium, the main venue of the 2018 Winter Olympics.
