The International Boxing Association (AIBA) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Alibaba Sports Group to cooperate on projects aimed at supporting and enhancing the development of boxing, especially in emerging countries, and to increase the value of all AIBA Boxing competitions.
It is hoped the MoU, signed at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, will establish a model for cross-border investments and cooperation between AIBA and China’s biggest online commerce company.
AIBA, which is celebrating its 70th birthday this year, claims it will benefit from the partnership that it says corresponds to the vision of its President, C K Wu, in numerous ways.
“We are very proud to partner with Alisports, their proven track record and ambitions will enable AIBA to make a giant step forward in terms of digital based activities for our sport” said Wu.
“We aim to build on their domestic successes and study a worldwide roll out of their capacities for the benefit of our National Federation members.”
Alisports, as Alibaba Sports Group is more commonly known, is articulated around a value chain of five pillars; event staging, venue commercialisation, sports media outlets, gaming and e-commerce.
Established in September 2015, it is devoted to building a base platform for the international community sports economy with a digital marketing model.
It is also dedicated to maximising the value of sporting events by using digital technology to transform the entire industrial chain of the traditional sports industry.
Through the agreement with AIBA, Alisports intends to promote boxing as part of a healthy lifestyle and encourage more people, including women, to take up regular physical activities and make sport a central part of their personal environment.
Its strategy is to work closely with AIBA to pursue the development of boxing in all its forms and help ensure that boxing remains one of the most entertaining and appealing sports around the world.
“The nature of sports and Internet completely matches the objectives of AIBA’s mission, referring to marketing, entertainment and fairness,” said Zhang Dazhong, chief executive of Alisports.
“We hope to further promote boxing, inspiring more people to practice this unique sport.
“By providing fundamental technology infrastructures and marketing reach we will help AIBA leverage the power of the internet and establish an unprecedented online presence while conducting commerce with hundreds of millions of consumers and other businesses.”
By Daniel Etchells
This article was republished with permission from the original publisher, www.insidethegames.biz