AFT News Network // Guangzhou, China, November 11, 2019 – The Chinese women’s rugby sevens team defeated Hong Kong 33-0 at the Asian Rugby Women’s Sevens qualification tournament on Sunday, November 10 and has secured a spot in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
The victory also created history as it will be the first time for China Rugby to appear in the Olympics.
Eight women’s teams from Asia competed for the solitary ticket to the Olympics. China dominated their group defeating Korea 49-0, Hong Kong 42-7 and Sri Lanka 55-0. In the semi-finals, China crushed Thailand 34-0.
Japan as hosts have already gained an automatic berth in the 12-team Olympic tournament. The other women’s teams to qualify are: New Zealand, United States, Canada, Australia, Brazil, Great Britain, Kenya and Fiji.
Hong Kong and Kazakhstan, who defeated Thailand 17-14 in the third-place play-off, will head to the global repechage in June 2020, where 12 teams will contest for the last two spots.
The Asian men’s Olympics rugby sevens qualifiers will take place at Incheon, Korea from November 23-24.
Thanyapura World, the Singapore based holding company for the Thanyapura Health and Sports Resort brand, announces its entry into the Chinese market with the signing of its newest resort, Sanya Thanyapura Health and Sports Resort, in Sanya, Hainan Province, China’s most popular resort destination.
The property is Thanyapura’s first branded resort in China, and the company expects other management agreements to follow as property developers around the world look for new, experience-driven concepts that inspire guests to optimise their lives. To that end, Thanyapura World offers a model that combines resort living with sports, lifestyle medicine and wellness. The company believes its ‘active wellness’ model meets the needs of developers and visitors that want more than just a hotel with a wellness centre.
The Sanya resort sits on approximately 58 hectares centrally located between Yalong and Haitang Bay and will be designed by Dallas-based architectural firm, HKS, known for its cutting edge sports stadiums, hotels and healthcare facilities. The new property will offer 300 hotel rooms and 250 villas, world-class sports facilities featuring, swimming, running, tennis, cycling, soccer and multi-sport fitness; a lifestyle medicine clinic focusing on chronic disease reversal programmes; wellness centre; a members-only leisure club; multipurpose function rooms, as well as food and beverage and retail outlets.
Thanyapura’s flagship resort located in Phuket, Thailand, is recognised as a leading sports, health and wellness destination, attracting top athletes like Maria Sharapova, Jenson Button, two-time Ironman world champion, Patrick Langer, and national swim teams from around the world. Thanyapura Phuket is the only officially registered FINA training centre in Asia.
Thanyapura Sanya will mirror many of the same pillars programmes offered in Phuket, such as sports training, camps, lifestyle improvement and executive health. The expansion into China strengthens Thanyapura’s position as a regional leader in active living and healthy lifestyle resort properties that incorporate green technologies, feature sustainable practices, and deliver personal optimisation. The resort will target families, groups, corporations and individuals looking for a healthy holiday destination where they can optimise their lives and lifestyle.
“We are on the cusp of something very big,” said Philipp Graf von Hardenberg, President and CEO of Thanyapura World. “We offer something quite unique in the international hospitality market that others cannot easily replicate. China is a massive market with unlimited potential, and we are entering at the right time in the right location and with right partners. The Sanya Thanyapura resort also supports the local government’s ambition to become a magnet destination for sports and health tourism.”
Thanyapura World is working closely with developers, local governments and health promotion boards throughout Asia to build healthy holiday destinations that offer an escape from the city and access to sports facilities and wellness programmes.
The Sanya Thanyapura resort will be developed by Hainan Tianyi Tourism Investment Co. and managed by Thanyapura Six Arts Resorts Management Company, Singapore. The resort is scheduled to open in 2022.
Experience design firm Eight Inc. has designed a flagship gym experience for digital fitness startup, Keep.
Following a period of rapid growth, Keep recognized the needs of its 185 million maturing users were evolving. With Keepland, Eight Inc. has imagined an exciting, active world where the physical and digital combine to form a mono-channel experience. This experience offers users seamless new ways to follow expert fitness guidance and connect face-to-face with like-minded users.
China’s sports and fitness market was worth $216 billion in 2016 and by 2025 should exceed $725 billion
“The future of commerce is not omnichannel but mono-channel. The omnichannel approach is old news. Today we are not thinking in physical and digital, it should be a holistic mono-channel experience.” – Tim Kobe, Founder and CEO, Eight Inc.
The fitness economy in China is on track for a boom with app creators running to take the lead. China’s sports and fitness market was worth $216 billion in 2016 and by 2025 should exceed $725 billion, according to a report published by The Economist and sponsored by the Chinese sportswear giant Anta Sports.
The Keepland experience is focused around two materially and visually distinct zones – Community and Workout
Located at landmark Qianmen development Beijing Fun, the Keepland experience is focused around two materially and visually distinct zones—Community and Workout. Inside the atmospheric, LED-lit Workout zone, users can follow the coach’s moves closely on multiple screens. Results are later relayed into the Community Zone, where friends can discuss performance over a refreshment as they relax post-workout. By hosting a range of workshops and meet-ups, this flexible zone allows Keep’s online community to further extend and develop offline.
“Keepland perfectly complements the digital app that has made Keep so successful, making for a complete fitness experience with a strong social aspect. In bringing together data, technology, content, brand and the physical environment, it offers Keep’s community of like-minded individuals a seamless way to take their passion to the next level.” – Alan Lin, Managing Director for China, Eight Inc.
With a rapid rollout across China anticipated, Eight Inc. has taken a modular approach to all wall panels, fixtures and furniture that can scale and adapt to different sizes of environment. The firm has also used architecture, materials and wall graphics to reflect and amplify the Keep brand culture throughout.
Keepland fully integrates Keep’s digital capabilities into the physical environment
Keepland fully integrates Keep’s digital capabilities into the physical environment. Users browse and sign up for classes using the digital app. On arrival, they are met not at the traditional desk, but at a sign-in wall where they scan a QR code before collecting their heart-rate monitor. After their workout, they can connect and follow each other’s results on the app, as well as on Keepland’s multiple screens.
Since it launched in 2015, Keep’s digital app has galvanized an active community of 185m users around the idea that ‘self-discipline creates true freedom’, providing them with a hub where they can connect and express themselves online. The company’s rapid growth has seen it become a major influencer and contributor to the rising awareness of life quality in China.
Eight Inc. is a global creative collective that specializes in designing innovative, integrated human experiences. Its 200+ business creatives and strategic designers collaborate across 11 studios, 7 time zones, and 3 continents. The firm celebrates its 30th anniversary this year.
