Event in Xinjiang to pave way for Olympics
Updated: 2016-01-21 08:04
By Cui Jia in Urumqi(China Daily)
|
|||||||||
|
China's 13th National Winter Games, which are being hosted in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region from Wednesday to Jan 30, will significantly help China promote winter sports in its western regions and achieve the goal of 300 million participants before the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games, a top sports official said.
Previous National Winter Games, first introduced in 1959, were all hosted by Heilongjiang and Jilin provinces in the northeast, where winter sports have enjoyed huge popularity.
"Hosting the 13th National Winter Games in Xinjiang is a strategic move for China's winter sports, which will be further promoted to western and southern China. It will also help China gain more experience in organizing winter sports events to prepare for the Beijing Winter Olympics," Liu Peng, China's sports minister, said at the ceremony.
In July, Beijing and co-host Zhangjiakou, Hebei province, won the right to host the 2022 Winter Games.
Liu said the National Winter Games is also a good opportunity to spot young talent to participate in the Olympics. More than 1,380 athletes from 54 provincial and municipal teams will compete for 97 gold medals in Xinjiang. Many events, such as figure stating and short-track speed skating, have divisions for young athletes.
Xinjiang's favorable natural conditions for winter sports produced a lot of talent about 20 years ago, but because of a lack of training facilities, athletes gradually fell behind those in northeastern provinces, said Li Guangming, a top official of the Xinjiang Sports Bureau.
A new world-class ice complex in a southwestern suburb of Urumqi will be the venue for all ice-related events, including speed and figure skating, curling and hockey.
"We expected to see local Xinjiang athletes, especially those from ethnic groups who are naturally talented in sports, thrive after top winter sports infrastructure was in place," said Gao Zhidan, deputy director of the organizing committee in Urumqi.
This is the first time Xinjiang will host a national sports event, and the organizer has "paid extra attention" to the security of the Games, according to Li Xuejun, another deputy director.
- A glimpse of Spring Rush: little migrant birds on the way home
- Policy puts focus on genuine artistic students
- Police unravel market where babies are bought, sold as commodities
- More older pregnant women expected
- Netizen backlash 'ugly' Spring Festival Gala mascot
- China builds Mongolian language corpus
- 2 Chinese nationals killed, 1 injured in suspected bomb attack in Laos
- New York, Washington clean up after fatal blizzard
- 'Plane wreckage' found in Thailand fuels talk of missing Malaysian jet
- Washington shuts down govt, NY rebounds after blizzard
- 7 policemen, 3 civilians killed in Egypt's Giza blast
- Former US Marine held in Iran arrives home after swap
- Drone makers see soaring growth but dark clouds circle industry
- China's Zhang reaches Australian Open quarterfinals
- Spring Festival in the eyes of Chinese painters
- Cold snap brings joy and beauty to south China
- The making of China Daily's Tibetan-style English font
- First trains of Spring Festival travel depart around China
- Dough figurines of Monkey King welcome the New Year
- Ning Zetao, Liu Hong named China's athletes of the year
Most Viewed
Editor's Picks
8 highlights about V-day Parade |
Glimpses of Tibet: Plateaus, people and faith |
Chinese entrepreneurs remain optimistic despite economic downfall |
50th anniversary of Tibet autonomous region |
Tianjin explosions: Deaths, destruction and bravery |
Cinemas enjoy strong first half |
Today's Top News
National Art Museum showing 400 puppets in new exhibition
Finest Chinese porcelains expected to fetch over $28 million
Monkey portraits by Chinese ink painting masters
Beijing's movie fans in for new experience
Obama to deliver final State of the Union speech
Shooting rampage at US social services agency leaves 14 dead
Chinese bargain hunters are changing the retail game
Chinese president arrives in Turkey for G20 summit
US Weekly
Geared to go |
The place to be |