(Yicai Global) Aug. 29 -- Government support helped sports-related shares beat out their competition this morning as stock markets on the Chinese mainland opened higher.

Sport-focused shares were up 0.5 percent on average after the State Council, China's cabinet, said yesterday that it planned to develop the sector and encourage social capital to invest in new facilities.

The Shanghai Composite Index opened at 2,896.00, up 0.08 percent. The Shenzhen Component Index started 0.16 percent higher at 9,429.00, and the ChiNext Price Index, which tracks growth enterprises listed in Shenzhen, began 0.05 percent up at 1,625.96.