The 6th Asian Winter Games, slated to run from January 28 to February 4 in Changchun, northeast China's Jilin Province, has registered record numbers of athletes and participating teams, said the organizers here on Wednesday.

A total of 816 athletes from 26 countries and regions of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) have officially registered for the Games making it the biggest ever Winter sports event on the continent, according to the local organizing committee.

Nine additional countries and regions will compete in the upcoming Games, compared to the last edition in Aomori, Japan.

Hosts China will dispatch a 200-plus delegation, the biggest number of athletes overall, followed by Japan, South Korea and Kazakhstan who will host the next Games.

The Chinese athletes will participate in all 47 events, including Olympic champion Wang Meng, Fu Tianyu and Li Ye for short track speed-skating, Wang Fei for speed-skating, two-time world champions Shen Xue/Zhao Hongbo and 2006 world champions Pang Qing/Tong Jian for figure skating, Han Xiaona and Li Nina for freestyle skiing, and Wang Chunli and Li Geliang for cross-country skiing.

Japan will take part in all the events except women's freestyle skiing aerials, and South Korea will compete in all but the freestyle skiing.

The Games will also feature athletes from Chinese Hong Kong, Chinese Macao, as well as Chinese Taipei. Pakistan will send only one athlete to the Games.

Ice hockey is the most popular sport with 348 athletes, including a record of 11 men's teams, competing for the medals while downhill skiing will be a hotbed of competition with 18 delegations in the field.

(Xinhua News Agency January 18, 2007)