Gao Zhidan, deputy director of the National Winter Games Organising Committee, has described the event as "clean" ©Getty Images

This year’s Chinese National Winter Games, seen as a key event in the the build-up to the 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics in Beijing, have been described as "clean" by the event's deputy director, who has claimed there have been no positive doping results reported so far from 346 tests.

Gao Zhidan was speaking at a press conference just hours before the Closing Ceremony of the 11-day Games taking place in the far-western autonomous region of Xinjiang.

"These Games are a clean event as no positive results have been reported so far," he said.

A total of 355 doping tests, including 320 urine ones, have been planned for this year's Games, according to Gao.

This marks a 10 per cent rise from the number of tests for the previous edition held in Changchun, the capital and largest city of Jilin Province, in 2012.

"It is the most stringent ever at this edition," added Gao, the Assistant Minister of the General Administration of Sport of China.

The remaining nine tests are scheduled for today with three gold medal events due to be contested on the final day of competition. 

A total of 1,388 athletes spanning 52 delegations from the world's most populous nation, including Hong Kong and Macau, have competed in 97 events across five sports - speed skating, short track speed skating, figure skating, curling and freestyle aerial skiing - in Xinjiang.

The National Winter Games was launched in 1959 but this, the 13th edition, marks the first time it has been held outside the north-eastern provinces of Heilongjiang and Jilin.

Ürümqi in Xinjiang is hosting its first National Winter Games
Ürümqi in Xinjiang is hosting its first National Winter Games ©Farwestchina.com

Earlier this month, China hailed this year’s edition as an opportunity to help increase interest in winter sport in the build-up to the 2022 Winter Olympics, due to be staged in Beijing.

Beijing edged Kazakhstan rival Almaty by 44 votes to 40 at last year's International Olympic Committee Session in Kuala Lumpur to host what will be China's first Winter Olympics.

A pledge to use the Games to encourage 300 million new people in China to participate in winter sports was a major part of the bid's appeal.

Snow events at Beijing 2022 are set to take place in Zhangjiakou in Hebei Province, a city 193 kilometres to the north-west of the Chinese capital.

The National Winter Games, being held in the Xinjiang capital Ürümqi, 3,175km from Beijing, is seen as a key way to broaden the appeal further afield.

Illustrating the sheer size of China, Ürümqi is actually closer to Almaty than Beijing, laying only 869km to the east of Kazakhstan's largest city.

Zhidan previously served as President of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) 2015 World Championships in Beijing where two female Kenyan athletes - 400 metres runner Joyce Zakary and 400m hurdler Francisca Koki Manunga - were suspended following positive doping tests.