North China working on public sports services under the 13th Five-Year Plan

By Liu Shangjing (chinadaily.com.cn)

Updated: 2016-01-12

Inner Mongolia's sports bureau reported at a sports conference in the city of Hohhot, on Jan 11, that it plans to improve sports for the masses on a daily basis as part of the 13th Five-Year Plan(2016-20) by getting cities to work for a "fitness in 10 minutes" program by building fitness centers in all banner counties and small centers in the town of Sumu town and in the village of Gazha.

In addressing the gathering, Tan Jingfeng, head of the bureau, said that the government will speed up the work on public sports facilities to meet the growing need for more diverse, personalized workouts. Tan said they will increase the number of available sports instructors from 40,000 to more than 50,000 and will build 2.5 square meters of sports grounds per capita, reaching 95 percent of the population.

Inner Mongolia began its national fitness activities in 2015, involving 12 million people, with activities on the grassland and at the equestrian festival and held a prairie leisure sports meeting all of which got wide recognition. In addition, it will increase cooperation and communications with sports departments in Russia and Mongolia, and with football associations in Germany, Brazil and other countries, with young people's football tournaments, summer camps, winter camps and football BBS between China, Russia and Mongolia.