Players of inline hockey squad attend training session in S China

(From L to R) Han Mingze, Luo Honghao and Lin Hanfei of inline hockey squad of Guangzhou Pui Ching primary school attend a training session in the ice rink in Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong province, March 12, 2017. When bidding for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, China aimed to encourage 300 million people in the country to participate in winter sports, including those living in south and west China. In Guangdong, about 400,000 person-times participate in winter sports yearly. Now there are two indoor ice rinks in Guangzhou and 14 in the whole Guangdong province. Eight clubs here teach ice hockey, figure skating and skiing, which have about 60 professional coaches and near 100 part-time coaches. As a province cultivating a lot of superb roller skaters, Guangdong exploits a way to turn these roller skaters become ice skaters. At present, there are about 10 million teenagers under 15 years old in Guangdong, half of whom participate in roller skating. Over 200 primary and middle schools open classes on roller skating. Some of schools are featured in inline hockey squads. Guangzhou's Rollerfun Sports Goods Co., Ltd, the biggest roller skating club and the supplier of skating coaches in Guangdong, cooperate with these schools' inline hockey squads and ice hockey squads by providing coaches and rinks for them. Guangdong also plays a big role in manufacturing the gears of winter sports. For example, China provides 85 percent of the annual production of ice skates in the world and over 80 percent of them come from Guangdong. (Xinhua/Liu Dawei)