- Thunder bounce back to down struggling Nets
- Young Chinese turn to AI pets for emotional relief
- Allen outguns Jackson as Bills beat Ravens, Eagles sink Rams
- Champions Cup success perfect Six Nations warm-up - France skipper Dupont
- Yamal symbol of rising Barca aiming for Champions League progress
- Asian markets track Wall St and Europe rally after Trump-Xi talks
- Trial into stabbing spree that sparked UK far-right riots to open
- No sweat, no shake as Svitolina cruises into Melbourne quarters
- Late night tears and hugs for released Palestinian prisoners
- Trump vows to end 'American decline' at inauguration eve rally
- TV host issues on-air apology to Djokovic over 'insulting' comments
- 'No matter the faith': east Ukraine marks Epiphany despite war divide
- Straka shakes off nerves to win US PGA American Express
- New 'oligarchy' under fire as elites descend on Davos
- Barkley dashes through the snow as Eagles beat Rams
- Djokovic condemns 'violence' against protesters in Serbia
- Barkley powers through the snow as Eagles beat Rams
- Trump vows 'speed and strength' at inauguration eve rally
- 'Back on track': Trump supporters brave freezing conditions to attend rally
- On last full day as president, Biden urges Americans to 'keep the faith'
- Marseille slump to Strasbourg draw as title hopes dwindle
- Inter beat Empoli to keep pressure on Serie A leaders Napoli
- India uses AI to stop stampedes at world's biggest gathering
- Sinner, Swiatek eye quarter-finals at Australian Open
- 80 killed, thousands displaced in Colombian guerrilla violence
- 'We want peace' say Colombians displaced by fresh guerrilla violence
- 'Mufasa' claws its way back atop N.America box office
- Dele Alli attempts comeback at Serie A outfit Como
- Swiss police clear hundreds of anti-Davos protesters
- Weary LA firefighters brace for 'last' dangerous winds
- Foden stars as Man City hit Ipswich for six
- 'We are worst team in history of Man Utd': Amorim
- 80 killed in three days of guerrilla violence in north Colombia
- Penaud scores six, Dupont shines as French clubs dominate Champions Cup
- Man Utd, Spurs sink again as Forest maintain Premier League title dream
- Mbappe shines as Real Madrid thrash Las Palmas to claim Liga lead
- First Israeli hostages freed as Gaza truce begins
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- Trump says will delay TikTok ban, proposes US part-ownership
- Brighton rock woeful Man Utd after Law tributes
- Hamas hands over first Israeli hostages as Gaza truce beings
- McGrath leads Norwegian sweep of Wengen World Cup slalom
- Hatton holds nerve to clinch Dubai title from Hillier
- Lopetegui linked with vacant Belgium job
- Leverkusen's Terrier out for season with Achilles tear
- Olympic champion Axelsen wins record-equalling third India crown
- Djokovic refuses Australian Open interviews over 'insulting comments'
- Djokovic braced for 'big battle' with Alcaraz at Australian Open
China's Paralympic domination fails to ignite enthusiasm back home
As the Paris Paralympics enters its final day, China's athletes are enjoying rampant success and are ahead of their nearest challengers -- but few in the country appear to be paying attention.
The Olympics were watched widely, with victorious Team China athletes lauded as national heroes, and nail-biting medal table rivalry with the United States closely followed.
But this week, under a news post announcing China now had more gold medals than the United States and Great Britain combined, many users on social media platform Weibo complained that too few people cared.
"Not enough people pay attention to this. It feels like there has been very little coverage (of the Paralympics) on TV," read one comment.
Chinese state broadcaster CCTV, which holds the rights to the Paralympics, has aired events live on its two free sports channels.
But wider coverage has been modest compared to the Olympics.
- Low attention -
"There's more media coverage than there used to be," Mark Dreyer, a Beijing-based sports analyst, told AFP.
"But when you look at Chinese news websites these days, Paralympic sports are sort of buried.
"There's the odd headline here and there, but it's not really getting much coverage."
The hashtag "Paralympics, low attention" has been viewed over 100 million times since September 2, with many lamenting the lack of primetime attention devoted to the Games.
On Saturday, of 24 scheduled programmes on CCTV's main sports channel, only six were broadcasts of the Paralympics -- and seven were Olympics repeats.
"CCTV is always airing replays of the Olympics," one social media user complained.
"If you want to watch the Paralympics it's quite difficult."
The dip in public awareness and engagement in the Paralympics has been a source of debate in other countries too.
"I remember in the UK a few years ago, (broadcaster) Channel 4 only aired one single hour of coverage for the whole Paralympic Games," said Dreyer.
"Whereas now they have hours and hours of live coverage."
Some countries' Paralympians have become major celebrities.
"Gabrielzinho" -- Brazilian swimmer Gabriel Geraldo dos Santos Araujo -- has become a national hero after winning three golds.
In China, Olympic stars continue to attract far more attention than their Paralympic counterparts, with top athletes' faces still plastered on billboards across the country.
Olympic swimmer Pan Zhanle, the 20-year-old who broke the 100m freestyle world record and took gold in Paris a month ago, now has 2.4 million followers on Weibo.
- 'Who is watching?' -
In contrast, Lu Dong, a Paralympic swimmer who broke the world record in the women's 50 metre butterfly S5 event and has won four golds, has just 5,300 followers on the platform.
After teenager Jiang Yuyan, the most successful athlete at the Paris Paralympics, won her seventh gold with a world record in the 100 metre backstroke S6 event on Saturday evening, there was barely a ripple of attention online.
"Honestly, who is watching?" asked one user on Weibo, echoing many who expressed their disinterest in the events.
"It takes a while" to generate interest in para sports, Dreyer pointed out, especially since people with disabilities are not particularly visible in China and are poorly integrated into the workforce.
While the topic "How many world records has the Chinese Paralympic team broken" had received more than four million views on Weibo by Sunday, that online interest pales in comparison to other recent sporting events.
After China's men's football team lost a World Cup qualifier 7–0 to Japan on Thursday, a related hashtag racked up over 600 million views.
Earlier in the week, Olympic tennis gold medallist Zheng Qinwen's defeat at the US Open drew over 17 million views on the platform.
"China is performing great at these Paralympics. So why is the interest so low?" lamented one Weibo user.
"When it's a movie or music star getting cosmetic surgery, then everyone talks about it."
J.Pereira--PC