China's flagbearers raring to do their country proud

Men's para ice hockey player Wang Zhidong and women's para cross-country skier Guo Yujie have been named as Team China's flagbearers for Friday's opening ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games.

Wang is a core player for his country on the ice. The 21-year-old forward, who has a lower extremity disability, began training with the team at the age of 15, and topped the assist standings at the 2021 World Championships B Pool in Ostersund, Sweden.

With a clear ambition of winning a medal, Wang is determined to do his country proud again at the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympics.

Guo will participate in the women's para cross-country skiing and para biathlon events. The 17-year-old, who has upper limb disabilities, won a bronze in the short distance women's para biathlon standing group competition at the 2021 Euro Cup in Finland.

She also pocketed three gold and three silver medals at the 11th National Games for Persons with Disabilities and the eighth National Special Olympic Games last year.

China's Paralympic cross-country skiing and biathlon teams prepared for the Games with an intensive 55-day training camp at Baiyin National Snow Event Training Base in Northwest China's Gansu province. The entire team did not take a single day off during the camp, which overlapped with the Chinese New Year holidays.

"I will try my best to achieve a satisfactory result. I hope that all athletes can earn honor at the Games," Guo told Xinhua.

With the goal of "showing the spirit of Chinese athletes and the progress of the nation's para sports development", a record total of 96 athletes will represent the host nation at the Beijing Winter Paralympics.

It is the sixth time China has competed at the Winter Paralympics since its debut at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games. The delegation totals 217 members, with 121 of those comprising coaches, support crews and medical staff.

The Paralympic Winter Games, which feature 78 events across six sports, will take place in three competition zones-downtown Beijing, the capital's northwest Yanqing district and co-host city Zhangjiakou in Hebei province. Team China will compete in 73 events.

The average age of Team China's athletes is 25 years old. The Chinese para athletes hail from 12 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities. They are all amateur athletes and come from all walks of life, including students, farmers, company workers and freelance professionals.