NW China province releases guideline to boost sports development

XI'AN -- Northwest China's Shaanxi province has issued a guideline to boost local sports development on Thursday, aiming to become a sports powerhouse in the country by 2035.

According to the guideline, by 2035, Shaanxi will make its per capita space for sports reach 2.5 square meters, and 17 million people will take part in sports activities frequently. At that time, the province will see 92 percent of its population reach the national physical fitness criteria, and 3.4 permillage of its residents will work as social sports instructors.

The guideline proposed approaches to rectify Shaanxi's lack of competitiveness in the big events such as the Olympics, the National Games and so on. The province said it would focus on the advantage events including diving, shooting, wushu and wrestling.

As the province's capital city Xi'an will host the 2021 National Games, Shaanxi intends to improve its potential advantage events, such as archery, boxing, gymnastics and so on, said the guideline.

The guideline also set plans to improve the fitness of priority groups such as teenagers, women, senior citizens and people with disabilities, and to build more public sports facilities and venues for Shaanxi residents that are within 15 minutes' walk.

A "sports plus" strategy is also stressed in the document, meaning Shaanxi will make more use of digital information, artificial intelligence, big data and other high-tech technologies when developing its sports industry, and build sports-themed tourism destinations.