URUMQI, , CHINA

Mar 12, 2021 9:50 AM

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Ma Kai / Xinhua News Agency/Newscom

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Ma Kai

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(210312) -- URUMQI, March 12, 2021 (Xinhua) -- Photo taken on Jan. 27, 2021 shows snowboarding coach Xu Xiujuan reviewing after a training session at Baiyun Ski Resort in Urumqi, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. 31-year-old Xu Xiujuan is now the technical director and member of council of the Xinjiang Skiing Association. She started skiing learning at the age of 9 in her hometown Harbin, the capital city of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province. During her athlete career, Xu ever gained great achievements in the national and international winter sports events on behalf of China's national snowboarding team, including a bronze medal of the Winter Universiade 2013 in Italy's Trento. She later became a coach of China's national snowboarding team until she retired in 2019. Xu didn't return her hometown but instead chose to settle in northwest China's Xinjiang, a place similar to her hometown where there are abundant ice and snow resources suitable for skiing. Xu found Xinjiang is badly short of professional trainers and she believed she could use her skills to make the ice and snow sports more popular here. Xu and her husband Wang Wen, who used to be a professional speed skating athlete, started their career of winter sports training in Urumqi. Besides providing daily training classes, Xu also gives free open classes of skiing to the public, in line with Beijing 2022's vision of engaging 300 million people in winter sports in China. Xu hopes she could one day see her students be recruited into the national team. "Besides, I also hope my students enjoy the happiness out of skiing," said Xu. (Xinhua/Ma Kai)