China will put much more emphasis on the development of winter sports to ensure better results at the 2006 Turin Winter Olympic Games, according to Duan Shijie, vice-director of the Chinese State General Administration for Sports.

Duan made the comments at the 2003 National Winter Sports Training meeting, which ended on Thursday at Yunfo Mountain Resort in Beijing.

"The winter sports are equally important as the summer sports and their development reflects the overall strength of a country," said Duan. "We should fully use the opportunity of hosting the 2008 Olympic Games, which have aroused the people's enthusiasm to the sports, to increase the number of spectators for the winter sports."

According to Duan, the State General Administration for Sports will take effective measures to support the winter games. Firstly, the events have been set up in the National Sports Games, which is held every four years, to popularize the winter sports. Secondly, China will inject more money into the development of winter sports, including building advanced training facilities, setting up strong reserve teams, and doing scientific research into the skills of the events.

The country will also try to improve the treatment for players and coaches, such as granting allowances to those who have shouldered the task of 2006 Winter Olympics.

Woman short-track speed skater Yang Yang won China two gold medals at the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics in 2002, China's first golds at Winter Olympics.

And China's winter sports hopes were further boosted by woman freestyle aerial skier Xu Nannan's gold medal at a World Cup meet in Australia earlier this month. China hopes to win its first skiing gold medal at the Turin Winter Games.

The good results have attracted the interest of major sponsors. On Saturday, W.L.Gore & Associates Inc. and Coleman Corporation became co-sponsors of the Chinese free-style skiing team. Gore will offer the training and competition athletic wear, while Coleman will supply shoes to the team for the next five years.

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