With venues almost completed and testing events underway, Harbin has stepped up a gear in its final preparation for hosting an excellent Asian Winter Games next year to promote ice and snow sports in the region.

With preparatory work approaching the final 100-day countdown, organizers in Harbin, capital of Heilongjiang province, are busy putting the finishing touches to venues, testing facilities while running operational drills as excitement builds in Northeast China in anticipation of welcoming more than 2,000 athletes from a record number of 34 National Olympic Committees to the continental sports gala in February.