Young Belarusian athletes to participate in Children of Asia Winter Games
The Belarusian team will take part in the 2nd Winter International Sports Games – Children of Asia – scheduled to be held from February 23rd to March 5th next year in Kemerovo, Novokuznetsk, Mezhdurechensk and Tashtagol District of the Kemerovo Region, BelTA reports
The decision to admit Belarusian athletes was made by the board of the competition’s international committee. The negotiations on the prospects of the Belarusian team's participation in the Games took place on December 8th at the headquarters of the National Olympic Committee of Belarus as part of a working meeting of the NOC President Viktor Lukashenko with the Head of the International Committee of the Children of Asia Games, Vladimir Maksimov. Viktor Lukashenko then noted that, in the current difficult time, participation in the tournament will enable young Belarusian athletes to improve their skills, gain the necessary competitive experience and find new friends. The Belarusian delegation may include up to 70 young sportsmen.
"The Belarus NOC application for participation in the Games was supported for the benefit of the international sports movement," Rodion Plitukhin, the Secretary General of the Russian Olympic Committee, said. “I am sure that the upcoming tournament will become the personification of genuine Olympic values, and young and ambitious athletes from Belarus, who also missed international starts, will add not only entertainment to the event, but also competition."
It is expected that athletes from two dozen Asian countries, as well as from Russian and Belarusian regions, will take part in the Games. The programme will include cross-country skiing, short track, hockey, snowboarding, alpine skiing, figure skating, ski jumping, curling, freestyle and speed skating. Demonstration competitions in volleyball on snow and esports are likely to attract special attention.
