As a major city of sports, Guangzhou has always been among the top three in the city ranking of the national city sports meets. Athletes from Guangzhou win around 10 world championships each year.

The Municipal Government of Guangzhou attaches great importance to improving people's health and the construction of sports utilities in communities. At present, there are nearly 10,000 sports organizations in Guangzhou. The people who regularly engage in sports (3 times a week and more than 1 hour each time) make up about 58.82% of the total. Amateur sports are developing very quickly.

Every year, there are various mass sports events like walking, dragon boat races, swimming across the Pearl River and mountain-climbing. The venues are also among the best in terms of modernization. The development of the sports industry is boosted by demonstration matches, gymnastics and the sports lottery.

Guangzhou is rich in its experience of hosting national and international sporting events such as US-China-Brazil Men's Basketball Match, F1 Pilot Driving, WTA Guangzhou Open Women Tennis, Senior Wrestling World Championships, the Thomas Cup Badminton Championships, Uber Cup Badminton Championships and two national sports meetings. The city also won the bids for the 2010 Asian Games and the 49th Table Tennis Team Championships .Guangzhou will take full advantage of the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games to build itself into a world-class city of sports.