On September 15th, the 14th National Games will open officially in Xi'an, Shanxi Province. The National Games is held every 4 years and is the highest-level comprehensive sports event in China. At present, some pre-matches have already begun. Six athletes from Sanmenxia, Shi Mengyao, An Qi, Yan Xiaoqi, Gao Pan, Zheng Chenyang and Wu Cuicui participate in the game, involving three competitions including shooting, taekwondo and wrestling. 

Shi Mengyao and Gao Pan have participated in the Tokyo Olympics this year and directly won seats in the National Games. This is the second time for Shi Mengyao to participate in the National Games. She will participate in the 10m air rifle mixed team, women’s 50m rifle three positions and women’s 10m air rifle team and individual competitions. On September 13th, she will compete in the 10m air rifle mixed team competition. 

“Shi Mengyao returned to China from Tokyo on August 1st and arrived at the Henan Shooting Sports Management Center on August 26th to participate in training after quarantine. She has just participated in the Olympics. As her enlightenment coach, I hope she will not be under too much pressure, adjust her mentality, and play calmly.” said Zhang Caili, a coach from Sanmenxia Sports School. 

The 17-year-old An Qi and 22-year-old Yan Xiaoqi are participating in the National Games for the first time, who are the youngest among the six Sanmenxia athletes. Both of them will compete in the women’s 10m air pistol on September 14th, and Yan Xiaoqi will also compete in the women’s 25m slow-fire and rapid-fire pistol on September 17th and 18th. 

According to Wang Zhijun, the leader of the Henan rifle and pistol team of the National Games, Shi Mengyao, An Qi, and Yan Xiaoqi arrived in the National Games Village on the afternoon of September 10th, and they had pre-match informal training on September 11th and pre-match formal training and relevant technical meetings were held on September 12th.

The Taekwondo athlete, Gao Pan won the silver medal in the Taekwondo women's +67 kg category at the last National Games, who was narrowly defeated by Zheng Shuyin, the Taekwondo women’s 67 kg champion of the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. They will compete again at this year’s National Games. The competition Gao Pan participates in will be held on September 25th. Fan Chi, Gao Pan’s coach at Sanmenxia Sports School, said that Gao Pan was currently training in Weifang, Shandong. She has rich experience, comprehensive skills, and works very hard. He hopes she can achieve good results this time. 

According to Zhang Wei, a coach of the Sanmenxia Sports School, Zheng Chenyang, as the main player of the Henan men’s freestyle wrestling team, will participate in the National Games for the second time. The competition he participates in is the 86kg men’s freestyle wrestling. He won the silver medal in this event in the 2020 National International Wrestling Championship and Olympic Qualification Tournament. The official competition will start on September 23rd. Zheng Chenyang is currently training at the Henan Provincial Heavy Athletic Sports Management Center.

In addition, the shooting athlete, Wu Cuicui participated in the women’s multi-directional flying disc individual and mixed team competition, which has now ended. She won the sixth place in the multi-directional flying disc mixed team competition. “After the game, I will return to Sanmenxia for a short rest. I will start a new round of training in October to prepare for the next National Games.” Wu Cuicui said.