Turin, the city which hosted one of the best Winter Olympic Games in 2006, welcomed back the winter sports as the 23rd Winter Universiade opened in Turin, Italy on Thursday.

The biannual event has athletes village on the same site of the Olympic Village, and all the stadiums for the Universiade served for the Olympics a year ago.

A total of 2,728 athletes from 46 countries and regions are competing in 11 events in the 11-day Universiade.

Figure skaters Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao, silver medalists in the Winter Olympics, will spearhead China's 79-strong delegation.

China is focusing on seven events, namely figure skating, short-track speed skating, speed skating, curling, cross-country skiing, ski jumping and snowboarding.

The cross-country event might be cancelled due to the lack of snow on the course, but most on the schedule will remain with the opening ceremony being staged at the Palaolimpico on Thursday night.

China ended up ninth at the 22nd Universiade in Austria with three golds, six silvers and eight bronzes in 2005.

(Xinhua News Agency January 18, 2007)