The continental body has now contacted the Association of International Olympic Winter Sports Federations to request that the dates be included in the sports calendars of the respective International Federations.

Taking place just one year before the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games, Sapporo 2017 will feature the sports of ski jumping, cross-country skiing, Alpine skiing, freestyle skiing, snowboarding, speed skating, figure skating, short track speed skating, ice hockey, curling and biathlon.

The competition will take place across 10 venues, including some from the 1972 Winter Olympics, such as the Okurayama Ski Jump Stadium, while the Tsukisamu Gymnasium, which will hold the ice hockey competition, featured at the first and second Asian Winter Games.

The Okurayama Ski Jump Stadium will host events at the Sapporo 2017 Asian Winter Games ©OCA



Newer arenas include the Hokkaido Bank Dohgin Curling Stadium, which opened in 2012, and the Obihiro in the Meiji Hokkaido-Tokachi Oval, which opened in 2009 and will stage the speed skating events.

Sapporo hosted both the first and second Asian Winter Games in 1986 and 1990, while the fifth edition in 2003 was held elsewhere in Japan in the city of Aomori.

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