The Tibet autonomous region has poured nearly 5.23 billion yuan ($724 million) into sports projects over the past decade, sports authorities said at a news conference in the regional capital Lhasa on Monday.

 

Over the past decade, Tibet has achieved all-around progress in the sports sector and marked a historic breakthrough. In particular, the region has been making efforts to enhance the protection and inheritance of ethnic sports projects and the development of outdoor sports over the period.

 

More than 22 ethnic sports including the Damchirim Horse Race of the region's Damshung county, and the Lhasa kites have been put on the national and regional intangible cultural heritage lists, and items like Tibetan tug-of-war (yajia), and Tibetan wrestling have been included as events in national ethnic sports meets, Wang Dejun, spokesman of the regional sports bureau, told a news conference.

By DAQIONG and PALDEN NYIMA in Lhasa