Driven by favorable policies and a strong demand for sports, China's sports consumption is experiencing a gradual recovery.

The 2022 annual reports of some Chinese sports brands showed that China's sports consumption demonstrated strong resilience and sports brands reported high earnings that year.

Anta Sports, a sportswear company in China, saw its revenue increase by 8.8 percent year on year at 53.65 billion yuan ($7.79 billion) in 2022. The revenue of Chinese sportswear giant Li-Ning increased by 14.3 percent year on year at 25.8 billion yuan in the same year.

Anta said it had a total of 6,924 stores at home and abroad by the end of 2022, and that number is estimated to reach between 7,100 and 7,200 by the end of 2023.

Industry insiders said China's sports industry is embracing an opportunity for rapid recovery and growth.

Many places in China have taken measures to stimulate sports consumption.

Days ago, south China's Hainan Province released several measures to facilitate the recovery of cultural and sports events and exhibitions, which said that the province will restart sports and cultural events and exhibitions, and encourage cities and counties to issue coupons to promote consumption.

On March 23, Shanghai released measures on further promoting and expanding consumption, which said that the city will stage international sports events and support its Xuhui and Yangpu districts to deepen the pilot national sports consumption city project.

Sports events in China are attracting an increasing number of participants. The 2023 Xiamen Marathon, which was held in Xiamen city, southeast China's Fujian Province, drew 35,000 runners.

Since registration started for the International Running Festival and the Beijing Half Marathon 2023, more than 50,000 people from 27 countries and regions have signed up, according to a press conference on the race held recently.

"As they return to normal, many sports events, including the Chengdu FISU World University Games Summer and the 19th Asian Games Hangzhou, are believed to be able to give a boost to the recovery of various links of the industrial chain and further enhance confidence in consumption. In the future, the sports industry will keep the growth momentum," said Zhou Xing, a managing partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC)'s China sports industry division.

According to China's 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025), the total production value of China's sports industry is set to hit 5 trillion yuan by 2025 with residents' sports consumption exceeding 2.8 trillion yuan, and more than 8 million people working in the sector.

Sum Huang, CEO of Endeavor China, said that sports which involve social interaction will enjoy a rosy prospect. Liu Hanlin, a managing partner of PwC's China sports industry division, pointed out that the application of artificial intelligence in the sports industry will generate new types of business and new business models.