A total of 240 teens will prove who is the strongest in the weightlifting division of the 1st National Youth Games (NYG) to be held in Longyan, Fujian Province, in October.
Coming from more than 30 cities, the weightlifters are aged 14-18, reported China Daily.
Qiu Yinglong, head of the Longyan Sports Bureau, told China Daily that their city considers weightlifting as “a traditional sport.”
“Over the past three decades, we are proud of having fostered many elite lifters,” said Qiu.
Longyan produced two Olympic gold medalists: Shi Zhiyong and Zhang Xiangxiang.
Shi snatched the gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics (Aug. 13-29) in Athens, Greece. The 35-year-old weightlifter added another gold medal to his list of accomplishments after winning at the 2005 World Weightlifting Championships (Nov. 9-17) in Doha, Qatar.
Zhang, 32, competed in the 62-kilogram category in weightlifting at the 2008 Summer Olympics (Aug. 8-24) in Beijing and bagged the gold medal. He took home the bronze medal in the 56-kilogram class at the 2000 Summer Olympics (Sept. 15-Oct. 1) in Sydney, Australia.
Qiu considers inviting Shi and Zhang to grace the event and give a pep talk to the young weightlifters.
Formerly called National Intercity Games, the NYG will happen from Oct. 18-27. Nine cities in Fujian Province will play host to more than 300 sporting events, reported China Daily.
Some of the competitions will also be held in Pingtan Comprehensive Pilot Zone, Fujian’s free trade zone located in Taiwan Strait.
The General Administration of Sport of China organizes the national multi-sports event. The NYG Organizing Committee supervised the torch lighting on July 10.
The committee presented to the press in Fuzhou on Oct. 17, 2014 the NYG’s anthem, slogan and Rongrong, the official mascot. The green-colored mascot represents the banyan tree and symbolizes environmental protection, according to China Daily.
Fuzhou carries the moniker City of Banyan as banyan trees grow abundantly in the province.