The rise of sport in the Asia-Pacific region and a social scientific journey through Asian-Pacific sport

Abstract

In the first quarter of the twenty-first century, the social, political and economic significance of sports in the Asia-Pacific region has been continually on the rise. First, the prominence of Asian athletes at international sporting arenas has become more visible. Second, major global sports mega-events are frequently hosted in Asia-Pacific countries. Third, the Asian sport industry is rapidly expanding. Fourth, international labour migration is increasingly noticeable in the Asia-Pacific's sport industry. Fifth, displaying national identity is another important aspect of Asia-Pacific sport today. With this increasing significance of sport in Asian society, this Asia-Pacific Sport and Social Science special issue aims to provide a scholarly public sphere wherein sound theoretical, contextual and critical reviews of sports in the region can be circulated. While this yearly special issue welcomes contributions from international academics whose research interests are in Asia-Pacific sport, we also encourage Asian scholars to submit their work to the journal. We are not biased in either direction but simply want to see both insiders' and outsiders' perspectives on sport in Asia-Pacific sport studies. The rise of sport in Asia-Pacific In the first quarter of the twenty-first century, the sociological, political and economic significance of sports in the Asia-Pacific region has been continually on the rise. Arguably we can identify five distinctive trends that evidence this claim. First, the prominence of Asian athletes at international sporting arenas has become more visible. For example, at the 2016 Summer Olympics, China, Japan and South Korea won 129 medals, ranking in third, sixth and eighth places in the medal table, respectively. More remarkably, these three East Asian nations have never failed to finish outside the top 10 positions in the medal tally since Athens 2004. They are undoubtedly global sporting powerhouses and it is important to recognize the connection between sport and politics in this region. The Chinese, Japanese and South Korean governments have systematically fostered elite athletes and have strategically invested in high-performance sport in order to display their power symbolically through sport (

Attachment points, team identification and sponsorship outcomes: evidence from the Indian Premier League

“…According to Rowe and Gilmour (2010), the way sports are consumed in Asian countries is substantially different from the Western countries. Researchers in the recent past have also highlighted that there is a difference in sponsorship attitudes across Western countries and Asia (Hino and Takeda, 2020; Pan and Huang, 2019; Kaplan and Langdon, 2012; Lee and Tan, 2019; Liu et al , 2015; and, Rowe and Gilmour, 2010). Asians' response to sponsorship programs is different from their Western counterparts in the way they process sponsorship information (Aaker and Sengupta, 2000).…”

Events Management in the "Chinese Century"

“…The implications of these developments for research and practice have yet to be comprehensively studied in events management, despite having been a focus of attention in the related fields of tourism and hospitality (Ryan et al, 2016;Sin et al, 2021;Zhu et al, 2021), and in other associated research areas including management (Peng, 2005), marketing (Cleveland & Bartsch, 2019), and sports studies (Lee & Tan, 2019). This special issue called for submissions that considered event management within the context of the "Chinese century," whether explicitly through a consideration of the social and economic developments associated with this new political and economic contexts, or implicitly, which involved research that involved a perspective from, or on, China.…”

Sports and Geography: Exploration for Spatial Approach

“…주요 연구테마는 스포츠지리 접근방법 (Wise & Kohe, 2020). 스포츠와 도시환경 (Sam & Hughson, 2010), 지역공동체의 스포츠정책과 정체성 (Lee, & Tan, 2019;Skille & Säfvenbom, 2011;Zheng, Chen, Tan, Patrick, & Lau, 2018), 스포츠의 세계화 (Andrews & Ritzer, 2007;Chatzigianni, 2018;Huang, 2013) (Shobe, 2008), 프로축구를 대상으로 한 지역정체성에 대한 글로벌 이동과 흐름 (Conner, 2014;Lawrence, 2016), 유럽농구의 지역성 (Purdy et al, 2019)…”