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Jonathan White

The Chinese sports world has rallied around those fighting the coronavirus outbreak in the country, with many stars from Wuhan leading the way.
Wuhan natives such as Li Na, who donated 3 million yuan (US$430,000), and boxing champion Xu Can have been followed by others with no connection to the city at the epicentre of the deadly virus.
Chinese sports media outlet PP Sports, which has a running total of the financial donation of athletes and teams, had the total at more than 17 million yuan (US$2.48 million) on Saturday night.
Their list included a number of Chinese Super League clubs and individual footballers, including former China captain Zheng Zhi, snooker star Ding Junhui and Beijing Ducks basketball player Jeremy Lin. The NBA champion donated 1 million yuan through his charity foundation.
Retired tennis star Li Na donates 3 million yuan to help fight epidemic
PP Sports added that several donations had gone unreported while many athletes and teams had donated in other ways, offering food and medical equipment to affected areas.
China’s Olympic gold medallist swimmer, Sun Yang, made the headlines after he stopped at a police traffic block in his native Hangzhou to tell them he was having food delivered to thank them for their work.












View this post on Instagram



















We support China thanks to israaid for everything @israaid sending 30k suits and 250k masks and 1M gloves to wuhan people we hope it will help
A post shared by Eran Zahavi (@eranzahavi) on Feb 4, 2020 at 10:54am PST



Chinese track star Xie Wenjun sent 1,500 masks to Wuhan from training in the US, while Israeli footballer Eran Zahavi, the top scorer in the CSL last season, donated through his charity sending 30,000 suits, 250,000 masks and one million pairs of gloves to the fight.
While the Chinese Basketball Association Alliance donated 3 million yuan, much larger donations have come from companies that own teams. Tianjin Rongcheng Steel, owners of the CBA’s Tianjin Pioneers, donated 100 million yuan, while owners of Chinese Super League sides have given similar sums.
Outside China, similar support has also been flooding in.

Chinese-owned Serie A side Inter Milan sent 300,000 masks, while Spanish Serie A side Espanyol, club of China’s star footballer Wu Lei, delivered 450,000 masks to Wuhan.
Bayer, the pharmaceutical company that owns German Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen, donated 11 million yuan’s worth of equipment and money. A banner was held up at the team’s 4-3 home victory over Borussia Dortmund, showing support to Wuhan and Huanggang, another city in Hubei province: “Wuhan, come on. Huanggang, come on. China, come on. Chinese and overseas Chinese in Germany are with you.”

China’s women’s basketball team, who qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games with victories over Great Britain and Spain at qualifiers in Belgrade, sent a message of support.
“Come on Wuhan, Come on China,” they said after dedicating their victory to frontline medical staff and those fighting the virus. The team had earlier played in shoes on which they had written messages of support.
These messages of support have been shared by global stars such as David Beckham. The former Manchester United and Real Madrid footballer posted a message on his Weibo.


“My thoughts and prayers go out to all those affected by the coronavirus in China and around the world,” he wrote.
Beckham visited Wuhan in his role as ambassador for the Chinese FA in 2015, where he famously slipped taking free-kicks.
Table tennis stars from around the world sent well wishes from the German Open in a video. Germany’s Timo Boll led the way along with Chinese stars in a post that was shared on International Table Tennis Federation Twitter with the “Be strong, Wuhan” hashtag.

From the world of #tabletennis and the whole ITTF family:
Be strong, #Wuhan pic.twitter.com/Suwp0RaIEI
— ITTF World (@ittfworld) January 31, 2020



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Coronavirus pandemic

David Beckham, Sun Yang and Jeremy Lin among stars supporting Wuhan virus fight

Jeremy Lin of the Beijing Ducks in action in the Chinese Basketball Association. Photo: Xinhua

Former England captain David Beckham slips as he free kicks at a sports field during his visit in Wuhan, Hubei province, March 23, 2013. Beckham arrived in the Chinese capital city on Wednesday to begin his role as China's soccer envoy, according to local reports. REUTERS/Stringer (CHINA - Tags: SPORT ENTERTAINMENT SOCCER TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) CHINA OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN CHINA

(191209) -- YORK, Dec. 9, 2019 (Xinhua) -- Ding Junhui of China celebrates with his trophy after winning the Snooker UK Championship 2019 final match against Stephen Maguire of Scotland in York, Britain, on Dec. 8, 2019. (Photo by Ed Sykes/Xinhua)

Coronavirus: retired tennis star Li Na donates 3 million yuan to support hometown fight against epidemic

Li Na kisses the championship trophy after winning the 2014 Australian Open, her second grand slam title. Photo: AP

Football Soccer - China v South Korea - 2018 World Cup Qualifiers - Changsha, China - 23/3/17 - Hao Junmin of China and Nam Taehee of South Korea in action. REUTERS/Stringer ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. EDITORIAL USE ONLY. CHINA OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN CHINA.

Retired Chinese tennis star Li Na speaks during the opening ceremony on the first day of action at the Wuhan Open tennis tournament in Wuhan on September 22, 2019. (Photo by HECTOR RETAMAL / AFP)

(190626) -- MONTPELLIER, June 26, 2019 (Xinhua) -- (From L to R) China's head coach Jia Xiuquan, players Wu Haiyan, Han Peng, Wang Shuang and Wang Shanshan cheer before the round of 16 match between China and Italy at the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup in Montpellier, France, June 25, 2019. China lost 0-2. (Xinhua/Ding Xu)

Virus fears see Wuhan Zall’s Spain friendlies cancelled as European football teams refuse to play

Chinese Super League side Wuhan Zall have had friendly matches in Spain cancelled on their preseason training camp. Photo: AFP

Chinese Super League called off by FA over coronavirus

Anderson Talisca of Guangzhou Evergrande celebrates a goal in the Chinese Super League. Photo: Xinhua

Coronavirus celebrity donations: Fan Bingbing, Louis Koo, Barbie Hsu, Angelababy and others who are digging deep to help the victims of Wuhan virus

Chinese actress Fan Bingbing, along with Hong Kong and Taiwanese celebrities, has donated to fight against the Wuhan virus. Photo: EPA-EFE

Sport

China

Growing number of Chinese athletes and clubs offer help as city battles outbreak
Internationally, Inter Milan and owners of Bayer Leverkusen join, along with China teams battling for Tokyo 2020 places


David Beckham, Sun Yang and Jeremy Lin among stars supporting Wuhan coronavirus fight as growing number of Chinese athletes and clubs offer help as city battles outbreak.


David Beckham, Sun Yang and Jeremy Lin among stars supporting Wuhan virus fight

Growing number of Chinese athletes and clubs offer help as city battles outbreak Internationally, Inter Milan and owners of Bayer Leverkusen join, along with China teams battling for Tokyo 2020 places

Growing number of Chinese athletes and clubs offer help as city battles outbreak

Internationally, Inter Milan and owners of Bayer Leverkusen join, along with China teams battling for Tokyo 2020 places