GUIYANG, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Putting on the helmet and gloves, Frederic Moal got on his bike and rode on the BMX (bicycle motocross) track with great passion.
Moal came from France and has lived in China for eight years. This March, he was appointed as the coach for the BMX team of southwest China's Guizhou Province.
In recent years, Guizhou has been promoting its mountain tourism and integrating sports and tourism, and attracted a number of tourists and athletes from both China and abroad.
BMX, originated from the United States in the 1960s, gained popularity among the youth and is one of the Olympics Sports.
Moal picked up the sport when he was young, and won second place in both the France BMX tournament and the Europe BMX tournament in 2009.
In 2014, Moal arranged a trip to China and aimed to develop BMX in the country. Over the years, his hard work paid off since the previously unknown sports caught more attention in Guizhou.
"Now, I'm in charge of providing professional training for the provincial BMX team members, and hope to attract more BMX enthusiasts to join the team and build more training parks," said Moal with confidence, when talking about the prospect of the sports.
Guizhou boasts rich mountain tourism resources, with more than 90 percent of its areas covered by mountains and hills. As one of the top spots for extreme sports and outdoor adventure, it hosted many international mountain sports events.
"France has a long history of developing mountain tourism. I hope that China and France can make more exchanges and interactions in the development of mountain tourism and mountain sports," said Moal.
Guizhou has rich and colorful ethnic cultures, and they can be combined with outdoor sports to develop sports tourism, he added.
Moal said that his dream is to build Guizhou into a well-known sports tourism resort in China and even internationally, and attract more young people to love outdoor sports. ■
