More than 5,000 disabled athletes and their coaches will compete for the medals of 20 sports events in Kunming, capital of Yunnan Province, from May 12 to 20, making it the largest national games for the disabled.

The Seventh National Games for the Disabled is being held in a western province for the first time, Yunnan Vice-Governor Kong Chuizhu said yesterday.

Kong, who is also the executive chairman of the organizing committee, announced the numbers at a press conference in Beijing yesterday.

The quadrennial event will have 35 delegations from 31 provinces, municipalities, autonomous regions and the special administrative regions (SARs) of Hong Kong and Macao.

The previous event, held in Nanjing in 2003, saw 3,206 athletes from 31 teams in action. Altogether 2,229 athletes took part for in 14 programs.

The competitions for wheelchair fencing, wheelchair tennis, archery, cycling and basketball for the hearing impaired athletes took place last year.

Deng Pufang, chairman of China Disabled Persons' Federation, said the event was a rehearsal for the Special Olympics World Games to be held in Shanghai this year and the 2008 Beijing Paralympics Games.

Feng Jianzhong, deputy director of China Administration of Sports, said the National Games for the Disabled was not only the country's highest sports event for the physically challenged, but also for the whole society.

The Yunnan government has already bought 60 buses and 20 vans especially designed for wheelchairs to make things easy for the competitors.

China has 82.96 million disabled people, that is, 6.34 percent of the total 1.3-billion population, according to the Second China National Sample Survey on Disability, which was released on December.

(China Daily 01/23/2007 page4)