The Asian Winter Games open in Kazakhstan today with the Central Asian state competing against the likes of China, Japan and South Korea for winter glory as it hosts its biggest ever sporting event.
The best athletes from 27 Asian countries are expected at the seventh edition of the Games, with world-class competition awaited in particular in the skating disciplines.
More than 1,100 competitors will contest 65 titles in 11 categories, with the events staged in the country’s two biggest cities — Almaty and Astana — between today and next Sunday.
With an eye on one day hosting the Winter Olympics, Kazakh leaders consider the Games to be an important test of the former Soviet state’s ability to stage the major sports events.
“Kazakhstan’s potential and economic capabilities are very strong,” Kazakh Sports Minister Temirkhan Dosmukhambetov said. “We have a serious chance of winning the right to host the Winter Olympics in the near future.”
Kazakhstan, which has never hosted a major sports events before, decided to stage the Games opening ceremony in the new capital Astana at the newly-built 30,000-seat indoor arena.
A new cycling arena in Astana will host competitions in speed skating and short track, while two of the city’s ice stadiums will be a venue for figure skating and the men’s ice hockey contest. The organizers decided to split the men’s hockey tournament into two divisions to release the event’s clear favorites from meetings with underdogs.
The five best teams — Kazakhstan, Japan, China, South Korea and Taiwan — will decide the Games’ medal winners in the top division’s round robin, while nine other countries will play in the premier division, mainly for pride.
Meanwhile the cross-country skiing, biathlon, bandy, freestyle skiing, ski jumps, alpine skiing and women’s ice hockey tournaments will be staged in Almaty, the city that is considered to be almost the ideal place for holding winter sports events.
The mountain sports cluster, the biathlon and cross-country ski complex and the venue for ski jumping, which was constructed specially for the Asian Games at the cost of US$256 million, are all placed close to the city limits.
The Medeu ice rink, situated more than 1,500m above sea level and where more than 120 world records in speed skating have been set, is also situated not far from the former capital Almaty.
Kazakhstan, exercising their rights as hosts, have added some exotic events to the Games schedule, including two rare disciplines — ski orienteering and bandy.
The hosts are among the favorites in the ski orienteering, while their women’s team leader Olga Novikova was named the world’s best athlete last year.
They are also clear favorites for the gold medals in bandy — a form of ice hockey which is played on a football-pitch sized ice rink — which will be played in the dramatic setting of Medeu.
At the previous Asian Winter Games in Changchun, China, in 2007, the hosts won the overall medal contest, earning 19 medals. Japan finished second with 13 medals, while South Korea were third with nine.
Kazakh sports authorities are hoping to win up to 25 medals in their home Games to clinch third place in the medals table.
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