INDIA-  India’s cricket board has announced it will drop Chinese smartphone company Vivo as the title sponsor of the Indian Premier League (IPL) this year.

Vivo paid $300m (£230m) for a five-year sponsorship deal in 2018.

The decision comes amid rising anti-China sentiment in India in the wake of a clash along their shared border in June. Twenty Indian soldiers died.

The cricket board had been criticised for not dropping the firm as a sponsor because of the tensions
In a short statement, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said it had “decided to suspend” its partnership with Vivo for 2020 without giving details.

Vivo said the decision had been mutually agreed, AFP reported. Other IPL sponsors – Paytm, a digital payments company, Swiggy, a food delivery application, and Dream 11, an online fantasy league – are also connected to Chinese-based internet companies.