The 2003/2004 Bosideng Snow Flying ISU World Cup in Short-Track Speed Skating, the forth stop of this season's ISU World Cup, will be held at the Beijing Capital Gymnasium from December 5 to 7.

Some 101 skaters from 15 countries and regions will take part in the Beijing stop, which has 10 events, including men's and women's 500m, 1000m, 1500m, overall, and relay.

Some world top skaters will take part including 2002 Winter Olympics men's 1500m gold medallist Apolo Ohno of United States, 2003 World Championships women's overall winner Choi Eun-kyung of South Korea, 2002 Winter Olympics women's 1500m champion Ko Gi-hyun of South Korea and 2003 World Championships men's 500m and 1000m winner Li Jiajun of China.

Led by 28-year-old veteran Li, a young Chinese team will participate in the event.

"As the former short-track speed skating national team has remained unchanged for 7 years, we need a team transition urgently.'' said Tong Lixin, director of short-track speed skating department of the Chinese Winter Sports Administrative Centre.

"The present young national team will be the backbone of the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics team. They will try to gain experience through such kinds of international competition.''

According to Tong, most players on the team did not take part in 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, in which China stopped its Winter Olympic gold medal jinx when short-track speed skater Yang Yang (A) won two gold medals.

But Fu Tianyu is the only skater who participated in the Olympics as a substitute member for the Chinese women's team will be there this time.

"Although there is still a big gap between world's top skaters and our young athletes, they still hope for good results in the Beijing stop, and will seek gold medals in 2006 Turin Winter Olympics in two years,'' Tong added.

Short-Track Speed Skating World Cup, ISU's highest level short-track speed skating competition, has six stops each year, with Asia, Europe and North America each holding two stops. This is the sixth time China will hold such an event.

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