Adidas Is Attacking Nike, The Industry Leader.

"In the next two years, Adidas will open 1.5 new stores a day in China," he said.

Herbert Heiner, chief executive of Adidas, revealed the company's latest expansion plan in China on Thursday, pointing to competitors Nike.

Haina said that Adidas's annual sales in the Chinese market will reach 1 billion euros ($1 billion 280 million) by 2010, which is two times that of Nike's sales in China last year.

In the Chinese market, Adidas has never been able to catch up with Nike's development.

Nike said its sales in the Chinese market in 2005 were close to 600 million US dollars. According to the sports marketing company's former sharp business consulting company, Adidas's sales in the Chinese market last year were about $385 million.

The industry believes that the sales channel is an important bottleneck restricting Adidas's development in China.

At present, the number of Adidas brand stores in China is 2500, which is not only lagging behind Nike, but also less than some of China's local sports brands with strong momentum.

A spokesman for Lining sporting goods Co., Ltd., which occupies the largest share of the domestic brand market, told reporters that the brand store of Lining has broken through 3300 in the end of last year, and the company plans to expand the number of stores to 5000 by 2008.

"We will strive to double the number of 2500 Adidas brand stores by 2010."

He said he believes Adidas will be the leader in the Chinese market in the next two years.

In order to achieve this goal, Adidas will heavily hit the Olympic Games which attract the most consumers' attention in 2008.

According to industry estimates, Adidas invested more than 50 million dollars in sponsorship of Olympic Games.

However, there is little space left for Adidas at the Olympic Games.

Nike, the old rival, has already made the first move and robbed many Chinese sports teams' Sponsorship agreements, including basketball teams, track and field teams and swimming teams.

One of the most important treasures of Nike is Liu Xiang, a sports star. If Liu Xiang wins gold, billions of viewers around the world will see his TV footage in Nike sportswear across the finish line.

The final opportunity for Adidas to win the Olympic Games will be more than ten minutes when the Chinese athletes get on the podium. Although the sponsorship of the sportsmen's award dress has made Adidas invest heavily, the company still attaches great importance to the move.

Haina said.