China’s funding for India’s biggest sporting event was threatened on June 19 after a border clash between the two countries.
The famous Indian cricket (IPL) organizators revealed that their leaders will arrange a meeting next week to look at sponsorship deals. For a long period, Chinese mobile phone maker Vivo has been the main sponsor of IPL when spending $ 330 million for their contract during the period between 2018 and 2022. However, recently in India, different protests has taken place to boycott Chinese companies after a clash between Indian and Chinese on the border on the Himalayas on June 15, according to AFP. The clash killed 20 Indian soldiers, and the Chinese army also suffered from casualties.
“After the border battlefield which resulted in the sacrifice of our brave soldiers, the IPL Board convened a meeting next week to look over various IPL funding deals,” IPL’s official Twitter account wrote.
IPL is the most popular tournament in India, which was not allowed to take part in this year because of the Covid-19 pandemic, but cricket leaders and players still hope to resume the tournament soon. According to AFP, anti-China spirit is risen quickly in India.
In the name of the China boycott, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) also said they were ready to reconsider an agreement with Chinese sports equipment producing firm Li Ning.