Competition schedule confirmed for 2025 Asian Winter Games

HARBIN, Feb. 29 (Xinhua) -- The 2025 Asian Winter Games will take place in Harbin, the capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province from February 7-14, according to the competition schedule unveiled by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA).

The Games will feature six sports, 11 disciplines and 64 events, with the men's and women's ice hockey and curling competitions to start on February 5, two days ahead of the opening ceremony.

The six sports are biathlon, curling, ice hockey, skating, skiing and ski mountaineering.

Skating comprises speed skating, short track speed skating and figure skating, while skiing consists of alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, freestyle skiing (aerials, halfpipe, slopestyle, big air) and snowboard (halfpipe, slopestyle, big air).

Speed skating offers the most gold medals with 14, followed by short track with nine.

The ice events will be held in Harbin, using the existing venues from the 1996 Asian Winter Games, while the snow events will be in Yabuli, 193km from Harbin.

Harbin International Conference, Exhibition and Sports Center will host the opening ceremony on February 7 and the closing ceremony on February 14.

Harbin was awarded the 2025 Asian Winter Games by the OCA at its 42nd General Assembly held in Bangkok, Thailand in July 2023.

The slogan, emblem and mascots for the Games were officially unveiled on January 11.

According to the organizing committee, the preparations for the event are in full swing, the maintenance and renovation of the venues and supporting facilities also get underway, and the solicitation of official partners, official sponsors and licensed commodity manufacturers will start at a later stage.

The regional games will be staged in China for the third time, following Harbin in 1996 and Changchun, capital city of Jilin Province, in 2007.