China to send 119 athletes to 28th Winter Universiade

China will send 119 student skiers and skaters to the 28th Winter University Games next month, as the Chinese delegation was unveiled at the Harbin Sport University here on Thursday.

According to China' s governing body of university sports Federation of University Sports of China (FUSC), the 119 athletes were drafted from 17 universities in 7 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities. This is the largest ever Winter Universiade delegation China has sent overseas. The strong squad will compete in 60 events over 10 sports at the games which open on Jan. 29 in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Apart from the competition, chief de mission of the Chinese delegation Yang Liguo encouraged the student athletes to plant the seeds of friendship.

He said: "I hope that our athletes could learn more from local culture and establish friendship with foreign athletes, as a party for the students, the host will hold exchange activities everyday, we encourage our athletes to join them."

"We have vowed to encourage 300 million people in China to take up winter sports ahead of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games which has described the blueprint for the development of winter games. And the FUSC has responded the calls to hold winter sports in colleges and universities," he added

Sun Ji, a medical postgraduate from Peking University who just started skiing in university said he would try his best at the Universiade.

"I have never expected that I could participate in such a high-level games, I will show what I have learned in training," he said. Endit