Olympic flame arrives in Beijing

October 20, 2021 10:47 pm | Updated 10:47 pm IST - BEIJING

Cai Qi, Communist Party Secretary, lights the cauldron during the Olympic flame welcoming ceremony ahead of the Beijing 2022 Winter Games.

Cai Qi, Communist Party Secretary, lights the cauldron during the Olympic flame welcoming ceremony ahead of the Beijing 2022 Winter Games.

The Olympic flame arrived here on Wednesday amid calls from overseas critics for a boycott of the February 4-20 Winter Games.

Communist Party secretary Cai Qi, the top official in the Chinese capital, received the flame at a closely-guarded airport ceremony.

Beijing is the first city to be awarded hosting rights to both the Summer and Winter Games, largely as a result of the reluctance of European and North American cities to bid for the 2022 edition.

At Wednesday’s flame handover ceremony, Beijing Deputy Mayor Zhang Jiandong said the City was committed to holding a “simple, safe and an excellent Games”.

The flame will be placed on display over the next few months, with a three-day relay scheduled to start on Feb. 2 involving around 1,200 torchbearers in Beijing, suburban Yanqing and Zhangjiakou in neighboring Hebei province where ski jumping and other outdoor events will be held.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.