Snow levels in mountains near Beijing will be sufficient for the 2022 Olympic Winter Games if China’s capital wins the right to host the sporting event, an official of the country’s bid committee said.

Some have voiced concerns that the mountains near Zhangjiakou, about 200 kilometres northwest of Beijing, would not receive enough snow for an Olympic competition, requiring costly snow-making efforts.

Wang Hui, spokeswoman for the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games Bid Committee, said the region designated for outdoor snow sports, such as skiing, met the snow fall standards of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

Estimated snow depth during the Games at outdoor venues near Zhangjiakou is between four centimetres and 49 centimetres, according to Chinese meteorological bureau data on the bid committee’s website.

With Pyeonchang hosting the 2018 Winter Games and Tokyo the 2020 Summer Games, the odds of Asia getting a third successive Olympics initially seemed remote.

But only Beijing and Kazakhstan’s Almaty have been left in the 2022 race and neither city is a winter sports powerhouse.