The Sixth Chinese City Games, the last multi-sport event in China before the

2008 Olympics, concluded here on Saturday after ten-day competitions in the

capital city of central Chinas Hubei Province.

The closing ceremony is a grand gathering of the City Games faimily members

and local spectators at the scenic Hankou Beach Park off the shore of the

Yangtze River, Chinas longest river.

With 279 days away from the Beijing Olympic Games, the City Games is

regarded as an important rehearsal of the Olympics.

The Games, geared for young athletes, attracted 6,300 competitors from 74

delegations across the nation contending in 288 events of 24 sports, most of

which are among the Olympics program such as soccer, basketball, table

tennis, tennis, archery, track and field, swimming, diving, judo, kayak,

shooting, weightlifting and wrestling.

It turned out productive results from the Games. One world record was

bettered in shooting and another was equaled by two athletes in

weightlifting. Two junior world records were broken by one athlete and four

national records were beaten.

Olympic shooting champion Zhu Qinan and weightlifter Liao Hui came upon the

spotlight. Zhu improved the world record of mens 10 meters rifle by 0.6

points in 703.7 and 20-year-old Liao exceeded two junior world records in

the mens 69kg category.

Weightlifters Li Lizhi and Tao Jin both clinched 286kg overall in mens 56kg

division, three kilograms more than the winning result by DPR Korean Cha

Kum-chol at the world championships on September in Chiang Mai of Thailand.

The Games witnessed a bunch of potential stars in other programs like

swimming, archery, table tennis and judo.

Several innovative measures were put forward during this Games which have

widely won praise, such as canceling overall medal standings and limiting

the prize for medallists and coaches in order to avoid pushing athletes too

hard.

To ensure clean and fair Games, the Organizing Committee attached great

importance to doping control by launching extensive drug tests.

According to Liu Peng, director of the State General Administration of

Sports (SGAS), 1,239 out-of-competition tests have been conducted through

the Games, 10 percent up over the last edition.

An supervision system on athletes whereabouts was established for the first

time all through the Games. The local food and drug administration, together

with the SGAS, had also strictly inspected the pharmacy market to keep the

performance-enhancing substances away from the market.

The Games Organizing Committee deserves our warm congratulations for their

untiring efforts to make the Games a great success on aspects like stadium

construction, sports organization, sports discipline, reception and cultural

activities, said Liu on Saturday.

It is not only a great sports event but a festival of common people.

The Games, however, have been tainted by two doping cases. A cyclist from

Yinchuan, a city of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in Northwest China, and a

Wushu athlete from Shijiazhuang, a city of Hebei Province, tested positive.

The Organizing Committee carried out a campaign of promoting anti-doping

knowledge among youngsters. Its the first time for an anti-doping exhibition

held at City Games, which took in over 2,000 players and coaches.

We will cancel all results of the two athletes in this Games and severely

punish the relative officials, claimed Jiang Zhixue, Chair of Science and

Education Department of SGAS.

The host city aims to make full use of the Games to promote sports activity

in communities. Most of competitions opened to the public for free. Over two

billion yuan (some 248.4 million US dollars) has been invested for building

or refurbishing 74 stadiums and sports facilities over the last four years.

These facilities will function as the fitness and entertainment s for locals

in long run.

The City Games is regarded as a platform for young athletes to gain

experiences. Its also an opportunity for sports administrators to seek

talented athletes and put up the backing forces for China.

It is the first time for a city to host the quadrennial Games inaugurated in

1988, as the past five editions were all run by provinces.

The seventh City Games will be held in Nanchang, capital city of Central

Chinas Jiangxi Province in 2011.