Less than 190 days remain before the seventh Asian Winter Games, which will be held in the two major cities of Kazakhstan, Astana and Almaty, from Jan 30 to Feb 6. Previous Asian Winter Olympics have been held only in highly-developed countries such as Japan, China and South Korea.Thus, Kazakhstan is happy to hold the first Games in the former Soviet Union, after a decision by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA).

Beijing — Chinese athletics officials are adamant there will be no repeat of the under-age scandal which ultimately saw a Chinese gymnast lose a bronze medal she won at the Sydney Olympics at next month's Youth Olympic Games in Singapore.