Newcomers welcomed

Now, with more countries and regions from Southeast and West Asia joining in, the Harbin edition of the Winter Asiad, which features a record number of 34 participating delegations, has borne witness to the expansion of winter sports in Asia.

Cambodia and Saudi Arabia are both making their Games debut in Harbin, while over 10 countries and regions from Asia's usually snowless areas, including Thailand and Kuwait, have sent their largest delegations to compete in a wider range of sports than they did at previous editions.

Thailand, a continental power in summer events such as soccer, badminton and golf, is committed to promoting winter sports as well, in a bid to help diversify its leisure and tourism sector, said Yuthaya Cheenheet, director of the elite sports development department of the Sports Authority of Thailand.

"We are a hot country, we don't have snow, and we don't have a winter sports training center yet, but we need to develop our winter sports to try and catch up with international standards," Cheenheet told Winter Asiad at Beijing's Capital International Airport on Wednesday, before boarding his flight to Harbin.

"We do have an ice rink at a shopping mall, and we sent our athletes to train in Korea to prepare for the Asian Winter Games.

"I totally agree that it's a good move to expand winter sports, particularly ice events at indoor facilities, to some tropical countries as well, because it's helpful for developing an economy around sports and tourism," he added.

A record number of 87 Thai athletes have signed up to compete in six sports at Harbin 2025, with some to make surprising appearances in altitude events such as ski mountaineering and alpine skiing.