Chinese Special Olympic participants celebrate Beijing 2022

Beijing, together with Zhangjiakou, won the bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympics and the news exhilarated Chinese athletes, coaches and Chinese Americans at the Special Olympics here.

Chinese athletes competing here on Saturday exalted Beijing's success, reported Xinhua.

"We are very excited when we hear the good news and our country has the ability to hold Winter Olympics well. It can also promote winter sports for people with intellectual disabilities," said Chen Yuping, the leader of the Chinese table tennis team.

Pan Zhiming, Macau Special Olympics Committee president, said that he was glad to hear about Beijing's win. "Every Chinese should be proud of this honour and everyone who worked for this should receive some applause."

Hong Kong's special athletic association executive member Ye Xihuo said: "As a Chinese, I feel very proud. It is a great win and I will watch China's performance on TV at that time."

Zhang Sujiu, the leader of Roundtable of Chinese-American Organisation, said that it was not easy for Beijing to hold an excellent Summer Olympics and win the chance to host a Winter Olympics, which is a reward to Chinese people's effort of promoting the Olympic spirit and cultivating love for sports.

"Last night, all of us were waiting in front of the TV and when I heard 'Beijing' was announced, I was so moved that tears came out. We opened a bottle of Champagne to celebrate," said Zhang.