Military games to commence in Wuhan

Countries participating in the 2019 CISM Military World Games, which begin on Friday in Wuhan, Hubei province, have sent strong teams of athletes with many being world champions or known entities in Olympic events, according to the director of the games' executive committee on Thursday.

This year's games are expected to be "intensely competitive", said Major General Yang Jian.

The Wuhan games boast record high numbers of participants and events, with 9,308 athletes from 109 countries registered. They will compete in 329 events covering 27 categories, including a naval pentathlon, aeronautical pentathlon, shooting, swimming and basketball.

Sixty-seven of the athletes finished in first place at Olympic Games, world championships or World Cup events. Meanwhile, 118 were ranked among the top eight in their respective sports at the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil. Of the five military-related activities, including the military pentathlon, parachuting and orienteering, 43 participants are defending champions from the last military games in South Korea four years ago.

Yang, who is also deputy director of the Central Military Commission's training management department, said China has placed great importance on the games and has the largest sports delegation with 553 members, including 406 athletes, who will participate in all categories except golf.

"All of the athletes in the Chinese delegation have received intensive training before the competitions. They have high morale and spirits and they will make sure to give their best performances and strive to achieve excellent results," he said, adding that based on the People's Liberation Army delegation's previous performances and experiences in international military sports events, Chinese competitors have certain strengths in categories including military pentathlon, parachuting, track and field, shooting, swimming and basketball.

"Athletes in other events have no fear of competing with strong opponents to earn honor for their countries and themselves, and we should show them respect," Yang said.

Twenty-five countries－including Russia, Brazil, France, Germany and Poland－have sent delegations of more than 100 members to the games.

The opening ceremony will be held Friday night, and Yang said many national defense ministers, military generals and officers from participating countries will be in attendance.

Up to 260,000 volunteers are serving at the games. Around 50,000 work directly for the games while others work around the city to help with visitor queries.

This is the first time that the games, first organized by the International Military Sports Council in 1995, are being held in China.