CRI听力:Altay Alpine Skiing Team Hopes to Participate in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics

Starting today, the competitions of the 13th National Winter Games have officially started.

Winter athletes are all well prepared to show themselves off at this event.

Among the six sports that have commenced today, alpine skiing has garnered much attention from the audience.

Hampered by poor infrastructure, Xinjiang's winter sports athletes have been hindered from achieving glory at this elite level, despite the region's long tradition of winter sports and related activities.

But starting this year, it's all going to be different because of the 13th National Winter Games held in Xinjiang.

In particular, the region's alpine skiing has made much progress at the competitive level, owing to the refurbishment of three ski resorts in Xinjiang, including the Silk Road Ski Resort in Urumqi, the Tianshan Tianchi ski resort in Fukang, and the General ski resort in Altay.

These efforts have facilitated winter sports teams in Xinjiang competition at the international level.

18-year-old Aibuli Aikhan, the male team leader of the Altay alpine skiing team, participated in the 12th National Winter Games four years ago. He said after 4 years' of practice, his team has made great progress and is expected to achieve much in this year's event.

Also, he hopes he will be able to proceed to the 2022 Winter Olympic Games.

"I hope our team would be able to make it to the top 8 in this year's National Winter Games. In addition, I wish I can participate in the Winter Olympic Games in 2022 on behalf of the nation."

16-year-old Senbati, who has been skiing since she was only nine years old, is the female team leader of the Altay alpine skiing team.

She hopes China will be capable of achieving higher grades in the 2022 Winter Olympics.

"I hope China would have better results in the Beijing Winter Olympics. I would be very happy if athletes from Xinjiang could stand on the stage of the Winter Olympics on behalf of the nation. I would say everyone stands a chance to win the games as long as he or she strives for it."

Yilzahti Maijiti, the champion in alpine skiing at the 9th National Winter Games, says he would love to train some of his own pupils, in hopes of contributing to the development of alpine skiing of China.

"As a retired athlete, I would like to contribute my effort to the cause of winter sports in China as well. I still ski every day now. Given the chance, I would take some students in Altay and train them to take part in some competitions at the national level or even the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games. I would rather train some kids from scratch, since every coach has a different approach to training their pupils. "

Maijiti says alpine skiing is deemed as an extremely dangerous sport, which is why the population base for this game is not as numerous as any other winter game.

It is expected China's ambition of introducing 300 million people in North China to winter sports while preparing for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games will inject new energy into China's alpine skiing teams.

For CRI, this is Li Jianhua reporting from Urumqi.