Two of the three cities bidding for the 2014 Winter Olympics are sending delegations to the desert this weekend to makes pitches to the Olympic Council of Asia's general assembly being held during the Asian Games.

Special coverage: Doha Asian Games Related readings: Billionaire buys Sochi airport, hoping city stage 2014 Olympics 2014 Games could help foster Korean peace Putin to help Russia win bid for 2014 Olympics

The third city bidding for the 2014 Winter Games is Salzburg, Austria. The International Olympic Committee will choose the host in July 2007.

Kim Jin-sun, executive president of the 2014 Pyeongchang Olympic Winter Games bid committee, leads the South Korean delegation.

"A major aim of Pyeongchang in South Korea's bid is to encourage more young people across Asia to take part in sport," said Kim. "Snow and ice are only to be found in certain parts of the world but the inspirational message of sport can reach everybody.

"The 2006 Asian Games promise to be a fantastic event. The Pyeongchang delegation will be observing closely to see what we can learn from Doha and apply to our own bid."

Russian officials from Sochi arrived Thursday and said they would reveal some "major highlight" of their bid to the Olympic council's general assembly.

Sochi officials, who have also recently made presentations in Argentina, Cuba and Malawi, will also spend time observing the Asian Games.

The Sochi delegation includes bid chief executive Dmitry Chernyshenko and Elena Anikina, chairwoman of the board of the 2014 bid committee.

"I am pleased to continue our worldwide consultation process, crossing continents to gain expertise from the wider OCA family, so that we can incorporate their thoughts into our candidature file," Chernyshenko said in a statement.