National Traditional Games of Ethnic Minorities to open in Ordos

A press conference is held for the preparation of the 10th National Traditional Games of Ethnic Minorities in Ordos on May 6.[Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The 10th National Traditional Games of Ethnic Minorities will be held in Ordos, North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region, from August 9 to 17.

Held every four years, the National Traditional Games of Ethnic Minorities is the largest and most distinctive ethnic sports event in China.

Ordos, a city with about 340 good air days a year and the winner of a series of honors such as "National Civilization City", "National Health City" and "Outstanding Tourism City", will host the gala games. The games have never been hosted by a prefecture-level city in its past nine sessions.

The main venue of the 10th National Traditional Games of Ethnic Minorities in Ordos. [Photo/Xinhua]

Both competitions and demonstration events will be featured at the 10th national Traditional Games of Ethnic Minorities, which will include about 7,500 athletes and 23,000 performers.

To date, Ordos has enrolled 5,300 volunteers to serve at the games' various venues. Also, about 10,000 volunteers will provide counseling services at the city's different professions. It's estimated that over 100,000 people will be involved in the grand games.

In order to further develop ethnic traditional games, the 10th session will include athletes of Han ethnicity to participate in the team and demonstration events, which is different from the former sessions. Moreover, this year's games will feature a new item: ethnic aerobics.

Ordos is in full swing for the games' preparation. It will take the games as a platform to showcase Inner Mongolia's latest development and to upgrade the city's image.