CHINA is sending 96 athletes to next month’s Paralympic Winter Games, its largest ever participation in the event.

This marks China’s sixth appearance at the Winter Paralympics. The Chinese delegation includes 68 male and 28 female athletes with an average age of 25.

The oldest Paralympian is 45-year-old Alpine skier Zhang Haiyuan, while the youngest is snowboarder Geng Yanhong at 17. Among them, 85 athletes will make their Paralympic debut at Beijing 2022.

The Chinese athletes will be competing in 73 events across all six sports, compared with two sports and six events at the Sochi 2014 Winter Paralympics.

The Beijing Winter Paralympics will be held from March 4 to 13.

Meanwhile, China has seen remarkable progress in the development of winter sports for people with disabilities in recent years, an official with China’s Disabled People’s Federation said at a Sunday press conference.

“Today, the number of Chinese national Paralympic athletes has grown from less than 50 to almost 1,000,” said Yong Zhijun, deputy director of the federation’s department of sports.

He noted that the achievements have been made possible by the federation’s promotion of winter sports among disabled people throughout the country, as well as by international cooperation and exchanges.

Yong said that by holding a number of national winter sports competitions, China has been able to select athletes for national sports teams. He also noted that since 2016, Chinese Paralympic athletes have participated in multiple international competitions, which further improved their skills.

In terms of developing winter sports for disabled people among the public, Yong said that since 2016, the federation has held the annual “winter sports season for persons with disabilities” for six consecutive years, with the aim of popularizing the sports.

Though the sports season only saw the participation from 14 provincial-level regions when it was first introduced, it has now attracted the active participation of 31 such regions, said Yong, adding that more people with disabilities are becoming interested in winter sports through participating in the sports season.

(Xinhua)