12th Chinese National Games opens

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SHENYANG, China, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- The 12th National Games, billed as China's mini-Olympics, opened on Saturday afternoon.

Chinese President Xi Jinping declared the games open in the Olympic Sports Center in the capital city of Northeast China's Liaoning Province. The games will run through to Sept.12.

The quadrennial games, which features all the 28 Olympic sports as well as baseball, softball and Wushu, attracted 9,770 athletes including Olympic swimming champions Sun Yang and Ye Shiwen and badminton superstar Lin Dan.