SPORTS NEWS

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ Mongolian racers successfully performed their first races in the second race of the 34th Dakar Rally, annual Dakar Series, ran Sunday in Pisco city, Peru. An international master of sports D.Boldbaatar took 80th place among 196 racers in the motorcycle contest, covering the way in three hours 30 minutes and 57 seconds. Another Mongolian, international master of sports N.Lhamaa took 86th place in the same contest--three hours 33 minutes and 46 seconds. A total of 169 racers finished the way, and a racer from Spain Juan Barreda Bort won the second race (two hours 45 minutes and 47 seconds). The 2013 Dakar Rally will continue until January 20 in South America through territories of Peru, Argentina and Chile. The racers will cover 8,400 km way in two weeks, or 500-700 km way a day. ** ** ** Three young speed skaters and one coach have left for the Republic of Korea to have a joint training with their counterparts from some 50 countries. Pupils from the city and aimags' secondary schools B.Zorigtbaatar, G.Maralmaa and Ya.Zorigtbaatar and their coach B.Boldbaatar have been involved in the "Dream" programme by invitation of the administration of Gangwon provnce, the host of the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics. For two weeks, the Mongolians will be trained under management of international high-level experts and coaches. The international Dream Program is the result of PyeongChang's pledge to the IOC to help expand interest and participation in winter sports amongst young people across the world. The initiative, organized by Gangwon Province and PyeongChang 2018, invites children from places around the world where winter sports opportunities and facilities are unavailable or underdeveloped, and enables them to experience winter sports for the first time in PyeongChang. The program also has the broader ambition to help increase the number of participating National Olympic Committees in the Winter Games to 100 by 2018. Three participants of an earlier edition of the Dream Program went on to fulfill their dreams last year by becoming Olympians and taking part at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games. B.Khuder