China to send 170 athletes to 9th Asian Winter Games

(ECNS) -- China will send 170 athletes to the upcoming 9th Asian Winter Games, to be held from Feb. 7 to 14, 2025 in Harbin, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, said Zhou Jinqiang, vice president of the Asian Winter Games organizing committee and vice president of the Chinese Olympic committee during a press conference on Tuesday.

Around 1,500 athletes from a record number of 34 counties and regions are expected to participate in the Harbin Wither Games.

The Harbin Asian Winter Games is another major international event successfully hosted held in China after the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games. The popularity of winter ice and snow sports has been given a great boost with a significant increase in youth participation, he added.

In the 2023-2024 snow season, a total of 82 national ice and snow events were held across China, along with 21 international events in China.

Zhou added that Chinese athletes would compete in all events across 64 sports during the games. The Harbin Asian Winter Games serve as an important preparatory event ahead of the Milan Winter Olympics, playing a vital role in discovering talent, training teams, and evaluating the effectiveness of preparations.

All the competition venues for the Games -- five for ice sports in Harbin and another eight venues for snow events in Yabuli-- are ready for the competition.

From September this year to January next year, the organizing committee will host a series of testing events for each venue.