What’s new: The head of China’s Winter Sports Management Center is being investigated for suspected corruption, the third official linked to the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics caught by the country’s anti-graft crackdown on sports this year.
Ni Huizhong, also the former chief of China’s Winter Olympics delegation, is “suspected of serious violations of discipline and law” — a common euphemism for corruption, the Supervisory Commission of Henan Province said in a statement Saturday.
Ni, 54, is being investigated by an inspection team from the country’s top graft busters stationed at the General Administration of Sport (GAS) as well as by the Henan supervisory commission, a provincial corruption watchdog, the statement said.
The background: Ni was named the director and the party chief of the Winter Sports Management Center of the GAS in December 2017, after Beijing won the bid in July 2015 to host the Winter Olympics.
The center is in charge of guiding the development of winter sports programs in the country, promoting the popularization and improvement of winter sports while raising funds to develop related programs, according to its website.
At least two other officials linked to the preparation work of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games have been investigated this year, namely Liu Aijie, former chairman of the Chinese Rowing Association, and Hu Guangyu, former deputy director of the political science and law department of the GAS. Liu became the target of an official probe in April and Hu in January, according to official announcements.
Contact reporter Kelly Wang (jingzhewang@caixin.com) and editor Jonathan Breen (jonathanbreen@caixin.com)
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