China's first non-Olympic event games, the inaugural China National Sports Convention will be held next year in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province.

The event, from May 28 to June 6, will feature non-Olympic events such as sports acrobatics, flipper swimming, power boat, speed horse racing, Chinese-style wrestling, golf, ten-pin bowling, billiards, chess (including, go chess, international chess and Chinese chess), bridge, sports dancing, aerobics and body-building and croquet.

Non-Olympic events have been winning international honors for China. From 1979 to 1997, Chinese athletes won a total of 1,093 world titles.

Among them, 818 were non-Olympic events, comprising three-fourths of the total.

Because the events are very popular among ordinary Chinese citizens, the convention is aimed at promoting China's national fitness program for better health.

Organizer said if successful, the Ningbo convention will be held every two or three years.