Adidas AG, the official sportswear sponsor at the 2008 Beijing´s Olympic Games, forecast sales in the world's most populous nation would top US$1.6 billion in two years.

The sporting goods giant, which last month opened its largest global store in Beijing's premier dining district, is the biggest sportswear brand in China and counts the country as its second-biggest sales market after the United States, said Chairman Herbert Hainer.

"Sports goods will become more popular as the Chinese people become more health conscious," Hainer said earlier at a press conference in Beijing. The company's involvement in the Olympics "helps the long-term perception of the brand and creates brand loyalty," he added.

Emerging markets, including China and India, are increasingly important for Adidas, after the US dollar's decline and the America´s economic slowdown crimped second-quarter North American sales by 20 per cent, Bloomberg News said.

Adidas said first-half sales in China this year increased more than 60% from a year earlier. The German-based group expected group sales of more than US$1 billion in China by the end of this year, reaching $US1.6 billion by 2010.

Adidas´s China retail vice president Frederic Seiller said 6,300 new stores might be opened in China by the end of 2010, compared with 5,000 at the end of 2008 and 4,000 in 2007.