Desert sports contest hots up region’s tourism trade

YINCHUAN — As the sunrise turned Tengger Desert, China’s fourth- largest, into gold, Zhang Bin, a soccer player, caught a long pass and scored the third goal for his team.

“I feel quite excited! It’s much more difficult to move on the soft sand than on a soccer pitch, but I feel more relaxed and I can run freely with bare feet,” said the 33- yearold.

Zhang, a soccer coach of teenagers at a local sports school, once helped gain fourth place with his team in the 2019 national beach soccer contest held by the Chinese Football Association. This time, his group beat their opponents 4- 1; a good start on the first day of the 2020 Ningxia desert sports contest.

The contest was held earlier this month at the Shapotou scenic spot in Zhongwei city, Northwest China’s Ningxia Hui autonomous region. It is where Tengger Desert and the Yellow River, China’s second- longest river, meet.

Tourism revenue of about 7 billion yuan ($ 1.04 billion) was made last year, in which beach sports make up an important ratio, said Chang Weihai, deputy director of the Zhongwei bureau of tourism, culture and sports.

According to Chang, beach sports are key to combining sports and tourism and have been a long- run strategy for the city government.

“Days for sightseeing activities has gone and we must make a change. Beach sports attract and hold more tourists so as to help scenic spots increase tourism revenue,” Chang said.

Every four years, Zhongwei has hosted four national beach sports events to meet the growing demand of residents. The 2020 Ningxia desert sports contest is a regional sports event to popularize beach sports.

The contest consisted of 12 sports including beach soccer, beach volleyball, beach badminton and some games like tug- of- war and climbing the sand dunes, which attract a high degree of participation.

Zhang said there were nine teams and about 100 players altogether to compete for the championship against his team. “I really hope we can make it to the last minute. Fighting!”

Zhou Shuang, the chief referee of the beach soccer, said the soft sand requires more stamina and the frequent substitution of players. However, the sand does reduce injuries when players fall.

“More players are able to jump with a beautiful overhead scissor kick or a volley and that’s what we hope to see,” Zhou said.

Next to the football pitch, two groups of volleyball players also showcased their competitiveness on the court, kicking up sand as they moved.

Bai Pengshuo, 16, a seeded player of Ningxia Beach Volleyball Youth Team who won second prize in the 2019 Youth Games for his team, also took this chance for practice. Bai, standing 1.98 meters tall, is responsible for blocking.

“I like beach volleyball more and I can better control the ball. But it’s still uneasy for us in a contest, because you will lose without effort,” said Bai. “So I do skills training at least eight hours a day and stamina training three or four times a week.”

“Anyway, it feels rather good to take a rest here and I can fight a contest on a real beach, with so beautiful a desert around me,” Bai said.