Winter sports push gains momentum at fun-filled Hebei event

Over 500 teenage athletes descended on Hebei province for a magical winter sports wonderland over the weekend.

The fifth edition of the two-day Hebei Youth Future Star Winter Sunshine Sports Meeting kicked off on Saturday in Guyuan county, Zhangjiakou, the co-host city of the 2022 Beijing Winter Games.

Temperatures of -20 C failed to cool participants' enthusiasm, with teams traveling from as far away as Jiangsu and Sichuan provinces in Southern China to compete.

The festival is part of China's bid to up winter sports participation to 300 million people nationwide by 2022. As an off-shoot of the National Youth "Future Star" Sunshine Sports Meeting, which also features a summer version, the Hebei event is playing an important role in helping the province reach its target of involving 30 million people in wintry pursuits.

The emphasis was firmly on fun, with organizers dreaming up novel ways for kids to enjoy themselves on the ice and snow, including ice soccer and dragon boat racing.

"We have designed a lot of recreational winter sports which are actually very different from events at the Winter Olympics," said Peng Chunjiang, an official with Hebei Sports Bureau.

"Lots of kids have no experience or even interest in joining winter sports, so the idea is to use interesting and entertaining recreational sports to attract them."

Jin Heshuang, director of Guyuan county publicity department, told China Daily that incorporating elements of entertainment, history and traditional culture also formed a key part of their strategy.

Take traditional Chinese curling, for example. The 300-year-old sport differs from modern curling in that players use their feet, as opposed to their hands, to slide the stones towards the target area.

"While we guaranteed the quality of competitive events, we introduced nine creative recreational sports," said Jin. "The aim is to attract more people to spend time on the ice and snow."

Chinese Olympic champion short-track speed skater Li Jianrou was in attendance and was impressed by what she saw.

"I have participated in the Sunshine Sports Meeting four times in different cities and this is the first time for me to come to the Hebei meeting," said Li, who won 500m gold at the 2014 Games in Sochi.

"I can feel the energy of the teenage athletes. It is very meaningful to have such an event to boost winter sports in our country.

"The recreational sports are especially important. To have future talent, we have to make the younger generations to fall in love with ice and snow. Interesting recreational events are a perfect introduction for our future stars."