Encourage disabled people to join in sports events

The 2nd Para Games of Jilin province closed on July 2, with 699 athletes from 13 delegations having attended the event.

The event, held in Meihekou, Jilin province, was intended to inspire athletes with disabilities and to cultivate sport talents for the 10th National Para Games of China and the 2022 Beijing Paralympics.

Thirteen delegations attend the sports event. [Photo/cnjiwang.com]

Compared to the First Para Games in the province, new events such as blind soccer games were added for this year's games. Other events included track and field events, table tennis, weightlifting, and Chinese chess.

During the opening ceremony of the games, Wang Meimei, vice chairman of the China Disabled Persons’ Federation (CDPF), said she believed that the Jilin Para Games would encourage people who have disabilities to participate in sports events and could cultivate a large number of athletes who have disabilities for the national sports team.

A show was put on by more than 200 performers with disabilities during the opening ceremony, which conveyed their optimistic and positive attitude towards life.

Disabled athletes in competition. [Photo/cnjiwang.com]

Wei Jing, chairman of the Disabled Persons' Federation of Meihekou, said "Sports can bring people who have disabilities happiness and is like a heart bridge to improve people's understandings with each other."

Sheng Dacheng, chairman of the Jilin Disabled Persons' Federation, affirmed the sports event and said during the closing ceremony that the event encouraged people who have disabilities to practice sports and contributed to the cultivation of China's disabled athletes.

He added that more sports events would be organized in the province to promote the development of sports culture for disabled people and the province would also develop its winter sports to make a contribution for the 2022 Beijing Olympics and Paralympics.