Desert sports contest hots up region's tourism trade

As the sunrise turned Tengger Desert, China's fourth-largest, into gold, Zhang Bin, a soccer player, caught a long pass and scored the third goal for his team.

"I feel quite excited! It's much more difficult to move on the soft sand than on a soccer pitch, but I feel more relaxed and I can run freely with bare feet," said the 33-year-old.

Zhang, a soccer coach of teenagers at a local sports school, once helped gain fourth place with his team in the 2019 national beach soccer contest held by the Chinese Football Association. This time, his group beat their opponents 4-1; a good start on the first day of the 2020 Ningxia desert sports contest.