The first MBA project geared to middle-level and high-ranking sports administrators working with the Chinese Olympic Committee (COC), sports departments and affiliated organizations was launched at the headquarters of the General Administration of Sport of China (GASC) in Beijing on June 17.

    The two-and-a-half-year programme, which has the energetic support of both the GASC and COC, aims at training qualified managerial personnel in the process of China's sports industrialization as well as for the successful hosting of the Beijing Olympic Games in the year 2008.

    Present at the opening ceremony of the class were COC President Yuan Weimin, COC vice-presidents Wang Jun and Madam He Huixian, Professor Qin Shaode, secretary of the Party committee of the Fudan University, Professor Zheng Zukang, Vice-President of the Fudan University and President of the Fudan Management College, and Dr. Wang Xiaoping, Chief Representative of NIKE Beijing Office.