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Players compete in the 9th China (Haining) Roller Speed Skating Open at the Haining International Skating Center. [Photo/jiaxingren.com]

The 9th China (Haining) Roller Speed Skating Open kicked off at the Haining International Skating Center in Haining, a county-level city of Jiaxing in Zhejiang province, on Aug 5, with a total of 88 teams and 760 athletes from nine countries and regions competing in the event.

The Haining International Skating Center is the first indoor skating venue in Asia to meet international standards. After 15 years of development, Haining skating has gradually entered the international stage and a group of outstanding skaters such as world champion Zhang Zhenhai have been trained.

Haining has been holding the China (Haining) Roller Speed Skating Open since 2010. As an international B-level speed skating event recognized by the China Skating Association, each session attracts many teams from all over the world, and this year is the ninth session.

This is the first time that the competition has been held since the COVID-19 pandemic. The event will last for three days and feature multiple events, including men's and women's 200m double timing race, men's and women's 500m+D sprint, men's and women's 1,000m sprint, men's and women's 10,000m points elimination race, and men's and women's 3,000m relay race.

In the 500+D sprint of the youth men's group held on the same day, the speed skating team from Sichuan province performed brilliantly, sweeping the top three in the preliminaries and advancing to the next round of competition.