Last Sunday, in the presence of the President of the People's Republic of China, Xi Jinping and of the President of CIO Thomas Bach, the opening ceremony of the 13th National Games of China took place in Tianjin (CHN). Chinese Games took place with the same four-year cadence of the Olympic Games, but in the following year.
The National Games are a highly-regarded event in China, second only to the Olympic Games.
In addition to the normal individual standings, they are "team standings" on the basis of the results of the Provinces results. On this basis the National Government distributes the contributions that will serve in the four-year period to fund the activity and reward the winners and medallists.
It goes without saying that it is important to get a placement even for athletes of lower interest who, however, compete with team rankings to get state contributions for future activity.
The three race wlk events will take place in Tianjin center respectively in the days:
- September 3: 20km men
- September 3: 20km women
- September 7: 50km men
The previous edition, Shenyang (CHN) 2013, saw the following results:
- 20km men: Wang Zhen's victory (1:19:54) on Cai Zelin (1:20:17) and Bian Tongda (1:22:41)
- 20km women: a beautiful and dramatic race with a final that recorded one of the two defeats on China's land of Liu Hong (1:27:53) by Lu Xiuzhi (1:27:53). Third place for Li Yanfei (1:28:03)
- 50km men: Wu Qianlong's victory (3:51:35) on Li Janbo (3:52:12) and Si Tianfeng (3:53:19).
The race will also feature the race walk China Head Coach, Sandro Damilano, with the particular goal of identifying potential new athletes on which to invest in Tokyo 2020 preview.
Shenyang: the arrival of Lu Xiuzhi and Liu Hong