Hangzhou 2022 organisers, left, signing the agreement with New Oriental, right ©Hangzhou 2022

The Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games Organising Committee has signed a sponsorship agreement with the New Oriental Education and Technology Group, who will act as the official online education service for the Asian Games.

Both parties attended a signing ceremony in Beijing on Thursday (April 29), the latest development in Hangzhou 2022's marketing programme.

Founded in 1993, New Oriental will provide online education and training for students and young people in a bid to build a sports culture in the city.

Chen Weiqiang, deputy secretary general of Hangzhou 2022 and vice-mayor of Hangzhou, said New Oriental was a leader in China's education and training industry, adding the company's "pursuit of excellence and challenging the limit" inspired students to achieve their dreams.

Hangzhou 2022 deputy secretary general Chen Weiqiang said New Oriental's
Hangzhou 2022 deputy secretary general Chen Weiqiang said New Oriental's "pursuit of excellence and challenging the limit" would benefit Chinese students ©Hangzhou 2022

Mao Genhong, deputy secretary general of Hangzhou 2022 and of the Hangzhou Municipal Government, signed the contract on behalf of the organisers, along with Yang Zhihui, executive President and chief of finance of New Oriental Education and Technology Group.

New Oriental looks to help Chinese students to improve through learning by using traditional Chinese values and modern education techniques.

Since its foundation, New Oriental has had 64.9 million students enrol in their programmes, including 10.6 million during 2020.

As of February 28, New Oriental had a network of 1,625 learning centres including 118 schools, 11 bookstores and access to online and offline distributors through 131 third-party distributors and over 48,300 teachers in 104 cities.

The Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games are scheduled to take place from September 10 to 25 2022.