China will soon establish its first official national ski jumping team in Jilin Province so as to have a stronger presence in snow sports at the 2022 Winter Olympics. This is according to the winter sports’governing body in the North Eastern Chinese province.

Different from previous national ski jumping teams, the newly established team will “get year-round formal training”, said Qu Yongkai, director at Jilin’s Winter Sports Administration Center.

Mr. Qu expects this change will help the players make significant improvements in their skill levels ahead of 2018 Winter Games.

"The team will use the 2018 Winter Games as a testing ground, and if everything goes well, we hope our athletes can make it into the final eight at the 2022 Games which will take place at our home venue," Qu added.

The intention is to set up the team after the 13th National Chinese Winter Games, which will take place in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region from January 20th  to 30th .

Source: Ecns

Proofread by John Devlin.