Sapporo Asiad sets off alarm bells for China (updated)

Taken aback by the rapid progress made by the two East Asian neighbors, China is vowing to bounce back from a disappointing finish in the Asian Winter Games and to eventually shine when Beijing will host the Winter Olympics in 2022.

With the PyeongChang Olympics less than a year away and taking place right next door in South Korea, China "tested its athletes and learned from better teams", as its top sports official put it, at the Sapporo Games. But of course, the test results were not satisfactory.

China found itself in third position on the medals table after run-away leaders Japan and South Korea, with Kazakhstan hot on its tail.

Kazakhstan swept three golds on the last day for a total of nine. Japan has 27 golds against South Korea's 16.

China bagged three golds (to South Korea's five) on the eight events in short track speed skating, the sport that has received nine out of the country's 12 Olympic golds. Chinese short trackers will be also challenged by top skaters from Canada and Russia in PyeongChang.

In speed skating, China won only one gold from the men's 500 meters, while 2014 Olympic champion Zhang Hong was shut out of the top three but picked up a bronze because the Olympic Council of Asia banned a podium sweep by the same delegation.

"There must be problems with the speed skating team," said Ren Hongguo, Secretary General of the Chinese delegation. "Either they had insufficient training or they were trying to adjust themselves to peak in PyeongChang."

Chinese snowboarders, cross-country skiers and curling teams have struck gold in Sapporo, but they are far less competitive when it comes to the Olympics.

Gao Zhidan, the Chinese delegation chief, was surprised by the huge progress made by Japan and South Korea.

"Three East Asian countries have been developing winter sports for the past two decades," he said. "This Games shows Japan and South Korea are on a fast lane, way faster."

As for the 2022 Olympics, China is planning to expand its winter sports population to 300 million and turn to world-class foreign coaches for help.

China will also be scouting talent in summer sports in a bid to turn gymnasts, martial artists, roller skaters, even ball game players, to winter sports, according to Gao.

"We should test every means to raise the level of Chinese winter sports before the 2022 Games," he said. Endit