Photo: Screenshot of Tmall

Chinese sports-related businesses have embraced a consumption boom driven by the Paris Olympic Games, with some seeing their export orders match those of the entirety of 2023, underscoring the booming opportunities created by the Olympics.

From table tennis to tennis and badminton, demand for sports equipment has surged, challenging the production capacity of Chinese companies, industry insiders told the Global Times on Monday.

"We provided a total of 35,000 table tennis balls to the Paris Games," Yang Xuefeng, brand manager at Guangdong-based Double Fish Sports Goods Group Co, told the Global Times on Monday, indicating their strong support for the Games.

Yet orders for the sports event is just a snapshot for the equipment these companies are exporting to the rest of the world. Thanks to the shopping spree driven by the Games, the demand for sports equipment has boomed, greatly lifting the Guangdong-based company's business. 

In the first half of the year alone, the company has exported 22 shipments of sports equipment, with the total volume already reaching that of the entire year of 2023, Yang said.

Wen Congjian, general manager of Yiwu Danas Import and Export Co, is taking sports-related orders worldwide, including the Paris Olympics.

The Yiwu-based producer has delivered more than 300,000 pieces of sportswear this year worldwide, mainly to the European countries, a year-on-year surge of 30 percent.

Wen's business is an epitome of how sports have brought about opportunities for Chinese-made products.

Data shows that, due to the combined impact of the UEFA European Championship and the Paris Olympics, shipment volume from European warehouses of Alibaba's Cainiao Smart Logistics in July increased by over 200 percent compared to May. 

According to cross-border e-commerce platform Alibaba.com, since the beginning of this year, online export value for businesses related to the "Olympic economy" on the platform surpassed 7 billion yuan, according to media reports.

Internationally, demand for China-made sports equipment has increased due to their competitive quality and quantity. Domestically, the strong performance of Chinese sports delegation at the Games has reignited market enthusiasm too.

The Chinese delegation secured 91 medals, including 40 golds, across disciplines such as table tennis, shooting and diving, placing them among the top ranks of gold medals won at the Paris Games.

The shopping spree extended to the tennis court. On the day Zheng Qinwen won the championship in Paris, becoming China's first tennis singles gold medal winner in Olympics history, traffic of official Pinduoduo flagship store on Zhejiang Teloon Group surged by more than 200 percent compared to the previous day, and sales volume jumped by 300 percent, Zhang Jianda, head of the e-commerce sector of Zhejiang Teloon Group, told the Global Times on Monday.

The Zhejiang-based brand primarily sells tennis balls and rackets. After Zheng's victory, a pack of four competition tennis balls from the brand, known for its good bounce performance, saw daily sales increase by over 300 percent compared to the previous day, Zhang said.

"Our store offers a range of tennis products, including beginner, intermediate, and competition-level equipment, which are popular among tennis enthusiasts of all skill levels," he said, noting that the great performance of the Chinese player has brought tennis into the spotlight in China, which boosted the consumption of tennis equipment.

The Olympics holds great importance for Chinese sports-related companies, and when a Chinese team wins medals, it can significantly boost the sport's popularity and drive market sales, He Wenyi, a deputy director of the National Sports Industry Research Base at Peking University, told the Global Times in a recent interview.