(Yicai Global) Jan. 26 -- The 14th Chinese National Winter Games has been postponed due to the pneumonia caused by a novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), said the organizing committee today.

The Games was originally scheduled to open on February 16, and conclude on February 26.

The women's ice hockey and the biathlon competitions, slated to begin yesterday in Hailar and Yakeshi in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, was also postponed.

It will be the first time since the winter sports gala was introduced in 1959 that the games would be held in Inner Mongolia.