Beijing's bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympics has reportedly impressed a visiting International Olympic Committee team.
On March 24, the IOC Evaluation Commission began a five-day inspection tour of Beijing and Zhangjiakou, Hebei province, to inspect proposed venues and assess their ability to jointly host the winter showpiece.
The commission is chaired by Russian IOC member Alexander Zhukov. He said the commission was impressed by Beijing's bid.
"We are glad to note that (China has) already incorporated some of the Olympic Agenda 2020 reforms into (its) Games concept," he said. "China has maximized the use of existing world-class sports venues, taken advantage of its experience in hosting major international events and identified clear legacy goals," he said.
According to Beijing's candidacy application, submitted in January to the IOC, the city will use 11 existing venues in its downtown areas for most of the ice events and will upgrade the skiing resorts in Zhangjiakou's Chongli county for the snow events if the bid is successful.