The Volvo Ocean Race will have a profound impact in terms of popularizing the sport in China when it touches base at the coastal city of Qingdao in less than three weeks, Knut Frostad, CEO of Volvo Event Management UK, said recently.

Frostad said he was expecting "big fans (and a) big audience" for the event, one of the world's three leading regattas.

"In the future we will see kids starting to sail in China," he added during a trip to Beijing.

"We are always working hard to grow the sport globally. And we strongly believe that China is a fantastic opportunity to (do this) because every time we have been to China, when we have met the Chinese people and media, they have shown their interest in the sport," he said, adding that "change is going to take some time."

Having left the Spanish port of Alicante last October, the fleet will arrive in Beijing Olympics co-host city Qingdao at the end of this month following a brief break in Singapore, the race's second Asian stopover after Cochin, India. This is the first time the race has made its way to Asia since it was inaugurated in 1973.

"It's more than the race itself," Frostad, who represented Norway in sailing at two Olympics, said of the new route. "We have made lots of changes this year, especially the stopovers in Asia. We just want to make the race better."

The growing riptide of global financial woes merely serves to make Asia, with its vast potential fan base and market, more of an attraction.

"Many of the sponsors of the race are international corporations. For them, Asia and China are very important markets," he said.

The fleet has already lost one of its boats after Team Russia announced it had suspended operations at Singapore due to insufficient funds. This came despite an aggressive recruitment drive by the boat's management in recent months to lure sponsors.

Frostad remained upbeat.

"We are of course under lots of pressure like any other sport and business," he said. "We are dealing with (some problems) and we are reducing the costs as much as we can in order to make it more feasible for everybody.

"I'm very confident the race will finish as planned. It has been organized for a long time. Every team has its own budget and its own plans," he said. "I believe the Russian team will return to the race."

Now the CEO is on a mission to try and convince the Chinese people that they need a prestigious tournament like the Volvo Ocean Race, considered to be the most expensive sports event in the world.

"We do not look at the race as symbolizing a luxury sport. For us, it's a (special) event," he said. "Like soccer, it's cheap to buy a football, but it's very expensive to see a great match between Manchester United and Chelsea.

"For the same reason, this race is as important for China as other sports."

The race is also opening a window of opportunity for Chinese companies who want to build bridges overseas.

"There are Chinese companies who want to get involved because this race is on TV every week in about 150 countries," said the Norwegian yachtsman. "For a Chinese company, it is interesting to see oneself on TV in different countries. So it's a great opportunity to bring China out (into the world) and bring something else in. It's like a trade, and this is what the race is doing."

(China Daily January 16, 2009)