XI'AN - The climbing event qualifier for the 14th National Games has kicked off at the Mount Hua Outdoor Sports Center in Northwest China's Shaanxi Province. A total of 157 skilled climbers across the country took part in the competition.

In the opening clash on Thursday evening, Cao Long of Hubei claimed the title in the men's speed event with a time of 5.52 seconds. Yan Lirong from Guangdong finished in 8.03 seconds to nab first place in the women's speed event.

The three-day qualifier is categorized into speed and all-round events for men and women's adult groups, and an all-round event for the U-16 group. There are only ten tickets for each adult group and 20 tickets for each U-16 group to book tickets to the finals at the National Games in September.

Mount Hua, which is located in Huayin City in Shaanxi, is a hot tourism destination, attracting millions of visitors every year.

According to Chen Zheng, chairperson of the Shaanxi Mountaineering Association, a large number of outdoor sports activities have been held in Mount Hua in recent years, including the 2020 natural rock-climbing China Open tournament.

"I believe that there will be more outdoor sports competitions such as rock climbing, hiking, river tracing and mountain biking held at Mount Hua in the future," he said.