"People's growing recognition of sports and fitness is the biggest change in recent years."

He said that the overall growth of sports in Shanghai is directly related to improving living conditions as more and more Chinese people pay greater attention to their health.

Huang said that demand for sports goods and services in Shanghai is not only strong but also diversified.

"For example, there are many niche sports-related products on the market, and the sales of these products are really strong, such as baseball and some winter sports," Huang said.

"Moreover, the rise of emerging sports industries and some non-traditional gyms is also contributing to the boom."

Huang, though, cautions that the newly launched plan is both an opportunity and a challenge.

"Because many leading international sports tournaments held in Shanghai in recent years are single-sport events, many large-scale multi-purpose sports venues and facilities have been underused. We need to consider introducing more global and comprehensive tournaments," he said.

In addition, a shortage of young industry talents is a nationwide issue. "We need to keep improving the integration of education with industry, and to cultivate more young industry talents," Huang said.

"Meanwhile, public awareness still needs to be improved, so sports can be fully integrated into everyone's daily life."