The Chinese team produced another stellar display on Thursday in the "Gunsmith Master" howitzer repairing race of the International Army Games (IAG) 2017, after China won the top two of Wednesday's individual races.
Thursday was the fourth day of the formal racing of the IAG, which is held by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) in Korla, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Iran joined the Gunsmith Master howitzer repairing race on Thursday.
The Thursday race involved repairing a 122-millimeter caliber howitzer, using a military truck to tow the howitzer through barriers to the firing location, and firing one shot to prove the howitzer has been repaired successfully. Each crew sent eight soldiers to finish the whole race.
The Global Times reporter saw on Thursday that the Chinese team finished the race in the shortest time without a mistake. Russia and Kazakhstan came next to China. But Iran and Uzbekistan's crews made some errors while repairing the howitzer and crossing the barriers. Errors cost the teams points due to the time spent.
The final result was not immediately available as the referee team needed to watch the replay and check all the details during the race to accurately calculate the time taken by the contestants.
According to China Central Television on Thursday, two Chinese groups from Xinjiang and Beijing took the top two spots in Wednesday's "Safe Environment" individual race.
The Safe Environment is a nuclear-biological-chemical (NBC) reconnaissance competition of the IAG 2017, competed by teams from China, Russia, Iran, Egypt and Belarus. The relay race and the shooting race of the Safe Environment will be held on Sunday and Tuesday respectively.
Major General Tian Fuping from the PLA Xinjiang military region under the Western Theater Command, told the Global Times on Thursday that although the Chinese team has done well in the race, there is still room for the soldiers to improve on their physical power and repairing technique so that they can do better in the future.
Russia and Kazakhstan's performances were also impressive, and it's hard to say which team was better at this moment, Tian said.
Yernar Shaganov, the technology expert of the Kazakhstan team, told the Global Times that the China-made howitzer that they repaired in the race was very similar to their own and today's race was not difficult for them. "I hope we can have a good result," he said.
The racing tracks that were built for the IAG will be used for Chinese military training in the future, and the PLA Army has already started to examine these racing tracks for new training, said Senior Colonel Jiang Guoping, head of the equipment maintenance department of the PLA Army.
