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While the world focuses on batting the corona virus pandemic, border tensions between India and China have escalated significantly.
The Indian army claimed that the Chinese army tried to cross the border and ended up killing 20 of their soldiers at Galwan. This claim has been contested by the Chinese who claim that they only defended their territory when Indian soldiers tried to enter China.
There has been widespread condemnation throughout India over the Chinese insurgence and multiple social media posts have done the rounds asking for Chinese products to be scrapped and for Indians to not buy or do business with any Chinese companies.
The Indian Premier League (IPL) which is the richest domestic T20 league in the world will review its Chinese sponsorship deals this week.
India Today
Vivo which is a Chinese based company is the main sponsors of the IPL. Vivo initially secured an IPL sponsorship contract in 2015 and the 2 year deal worked well with both sides.
The IPL and Vivo renewed their sponsorship deal for another five years which will end in 2022. Vivo shelled out a whopping $341 million to promote the IPL as Vivo IPL and have been happy with the response so far. However, the IPL has felt the pressure due to the on-going tensions between India and China.
Arun Dhumal, treasurer for the BCCI said the IPL Governing Council will review all sponsorship deals but did not mention if any specific deal will be singled out. He did point out that the IPL Governing Council will not make an emotional decision on the matter as it was important for a logical decision to be taken.
For now it appears highly unlikely that the IPL will terminate Vivo’s sponsorship deal as the IPL will lose out millions of dollars and will most likely be hit with a lawsuit.
Indian Weightlifting Federation Disowns China
The Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWLF) has made a decision to no longer use any Chinese manufactured equipment due to the on-going feud with China. The IWF has already informed the Sports Authority of India (SAI) about its decision and is pushing for only Made in India products to be used.
The IWLF had ordered multiple weightlifting sets from ZKC – a Chinese company in 2019 but claimed all of the equipment was faulty and not being used.
There is a general push in India to stop using Chinese phones and popular apps like TikTok.
