A total of 12 Chinese freestyle skiers will participate in the 2009 Harbin Winter Universiade, a senior sports official said on Friday.

"Our team members are very excited to know they can compete in the students games, as it will be the first time for freestyle skiing events to be included at the Winter Universiade," said Yan Xiaojuan, director of the No.1 skiing department of the Winter Games Managing Center of the General Administration of Sports in China.

"China will send six men and six women athletes to the Harbin Winter Universiade, and there are still four seats left undecided, two for each gender. We are considering to test some give some youngsters in the games to give them some international experience."

Freestyle world champions Han Xiaopeng and Li Nina will attend the Winter Universiade, barring any unforeseen circumstances, according to Yan.

The Harbin Universiade will be held on February 18 to 28. China will send a total of 198 athletes to compete in 12 sports and 76 events at the games.

(Xinhua News Agency December 19, 2008)