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Chinese speed skaters try ice at Obihiro

Xinhua, February 18, 2017 Adjust font size:

Chinese speed skating team arrived at Obihiro, Japan, and started the first training session at Forrest speed skating oval to prepare the 8th Asiad.

Chinese team is familiar with the impressive oval which hosted numerous international competitions, including the ISU Speed Skating World Cup. Feng Qingbo, coach of Chinese team, had been here for many times and he's satisfied with the conditions.

China's first-ever speed skating Olympic gold medalist Zhang Hong told Xinhua she had been here for competition in 2011, which was her first overseas World Cup tour. "I hope this place will bring luck for Chinese skaters."

Yu Jing, ranking first in women's sprint all-around, 2013-2014 World Sprint Championships, felt a bit tired after first day training. "The travel is a little exhausting, but I'm getting used to it. I kept a good form in previous training and hopefully that will help me here in the final games."

Zhang Hong, women's 1000m gold winner of Sochi Winter Olympics, will skate in three different distances, including 500m, 1000m and 1500m.

"I' m not fast enough recently and the racing results did not appear to be good these days, but my goal is at Pyeongchang next year. The Asiad will be a big challenge for me. I'll try hard to win when I'm not totally ready," said Zhang.

Feng told Xinhua he did not have high expectations on national team this time. "Olympics are our utmost aim and Asiad is just a warm-up. We encourage the skaters to try best but did not push them very hard."

According to Feng, there will be nail-biting competitions in women's 500m, women's 1000m, and men's 500m between China, Japan and South Korea. "The skaters are so close in these races and Asia represents the world's highest level."

Speed skating will be held from 20th to 23rd at Obihiro and the rest of the competitions at the Asian Winter Games are hosted by Sapporo from 19th to 26th. Endit