Beijing Winter Olympics to be very successful: Albanian official

TIRANA, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- President of the Albanian National Olympic Committee Fidel Ylli said on Monday that China will organize the best ever Olympic Winter Games which is due to open on Feb. 4 in Beijing.

In an interview with Xinhua, Ylli said that he strongly believes that Beijing 2022 will be very successful, "not only from the organizing aspect, but also from the competing aspect of all athletes."

"Although we have a small team, we will go there to represent Albania in this big event," he said.

Ylli admitted that Albania does not have appropriate ski slopes to hold such big events.

However, he said that one month ago Albanian Ski Federation, in cooperation with the Italian Ski Federation, organized the Albanian Ski Championship in the Italian Alps, and this championship was listed in the World Championships.

Ylli said that Albania's only representative at Beijing 2022 is 18-year-old Deni Xhepa, who is training in Italy.

"I think that the Albanian athlete will have a good performance with his aim to break Albanian record," he said.