Athletes gear up for Inner Mongolia winter games

Inner Mongolia has in recent years carried out a great variety of winter sports for the masses, including winter nadams, or festivals, as well as snow and ice events.

As early as in 2001, Inner Mongolia established its first professional ice and snow sports team.

Tan Jingfeng, head of the Inner Mongolia Sports Bureau, said his region wanted the 14th national winter games to meet the standards of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.

“We will have all the sports events that will be held in the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and there will be 141 sports events in the games,” he said.

There are also some special highlights planned for the 14th National Winter Games. For example, it will be the first time that a winter games sets up competition venues in foreign countries.

Organizers said that for these games, some specialized categories -- including sleigh riding -- will be held in abroad.

They said that, in addition, it will be the first time a national winter games sets up mass sports activities, including boat races on the ice and football matches on the snow.

The 14th National Winter Games kicks off on Feb 16, 2020 in Hulunbuir, in North China’s Inner Mongolia autonomous region.