SIXTEEN athletes from Shenzhen are competing in the 9th Asian Winter Games, which began Friday in Harbin, capital of Northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province.

This marks China’s third time hosting the Asian Winter Games, following 1996 and 2007. It is a significant international ice and snow event held in China after the Beijing Winter Olympics.

The Shenzhen athletes are participating in figure skating, women’s ice hockey, and men’s ice hockey at this edition of the Asian Winter Games.

The event includes six major categories, 11 sub-categories, and 64 minor categories. Over 1,200 athletes from 34 countries and regions across Asia are competing in this year’s Games, making this edition the largest in terms of participating delegations and athletes.

The Chinese sports delegation, consisting of 170 athletes (85 men and 85 women) with an average age of 23, will compete in all categories of the Games.

In figure skating, Shenzhen’s Dai Dawei will compete in the men’s singles event, having won the national championship. Another athlete, Peng Zhiming, serves as a substitute player in support of the team.

The men’s ice hockey competition has already begun, with four Shenzhen athletes and their teammates elsewhere representing China. China is currently in fourth place in the group, with all six teams advancing to the quarterfinals.

The Chinese women’s ice hockey team, featuring 10 players from Shenzhen, faced a challenging pre-qualifying match for the Milan Winter Olympics while preparing for the Harbin Winter Games. The Chinese women will play in a round-robin competition against top teams from Group B, with the final scheduled for Feb. 14.

Harbin, dubbed China’s “ice city,” is the birthplace of the country’s modern winter sports. The city hosted the third edition of the Games in 1996.

China now has more than 300 million people being familiar with winter sport and practicing winter sport.

In 2029, Saudi Arabia’s Trojena will host the next edition of the Games, marking the first Asian Winter Games to be held in West Asia.

(Windy Shao)