The fifth Winter National Fitness Games of Shandong kicked off on Jan 7 in the province's coastal city of Qingdao in a bid to attract more residents to winter sports.

The fifth Winter National Fitness Games of Shandong kicks off on Jan 7 in Qingdao, Shandong province. [Photo/qingdaonews.com]

As an important part of the province's ice and snow sports events, the Winter National Fitness Games has involved departments at provincial, municipal and county levels to bring ice and snow sports to the broad masses of people, promote and popularize ice and snow sports events, nurture more winter sports events for fans and athletes, and develop its ice and snow sports industry as part of China's plan to engage 300 million people with sports on snow and ice and change winter sports forever. 

Sponsored by the Shandong Provincial Sports Bureau, this year's edition of the Winter National Fitness Games will be held in Qingdao, Jinan and Tai'an. The games started in December 2021 and will conclude in February.  

More than 2,000 athletes will participate in the fifth Winter National Fitness Games of Shandong. [Photo/qingdaonews.com]

More than 2,000 athletes will participate in the games that consist of 17 events across six sports on snow such as cross-country pulley and the giant snowboard slalom, and 48 events across six sports on ice such as short track speed skating and figure skating.

The China Ice and Snow Caravan Tour Qingdao station and a campus celebration to welcome the upcoming 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics were held alongside the opening ceremony in Qingdao to encourage more people, especially teenagers, to participate in winter sports.

The opening ceremony of the fifth Winter National Fitness Games of Shandong is held on Jan 7 in Qingdao. [Photo/qingdaonews.com]