Major infrastructure construction projects have started for the 2015 World Leisure Games to be hosted from September 12 to 21 in Laixi, a county-level city in Qingdao. The overall planning process will be completed by the end of August, according to sources at a recent media conference.

The World Leisure Games are launched by the World Leisure Organization (WLO), which appointed Qingdao as the host city for the 2015 games last October.

According to WLO Chairman Derek Casey, the coming event will be comprised of seven international games, including extreme sports, sports climbing, obstacle roller skating, water skiing, street dancing, sports dancing, sailing, electronic sports and six domestic games: golf, roller skating, biking, fishing, aerobic gymnastics, beach rugby and body building.

Apart from the games, the event will also include a World Leisure Summit, the World Leisure Expo, and the Leisure Culture and Arts Festival.

"The games stage a wide range of sports and recreation activities for mass participants and advocates for enhancing quality of life and well-being through leisure," Casey said at the conference. "By promoting leisure sports, urban development will also be facilitated."

The 2015 World Leisure Games will be the second time the Italy-based World Leisure Organization will hold such an event, with the first held in Chuncheon, South Korea, in 2010.

With rapid economic development, people from Asian countries have shown their interest in leisure sports to improve their quality of life. People's livelihood and the life of leisure have drawn concern from the government, Casey said.

"I have never seen a large number of people, in any other part of world, share and practice leisure games in squares every evening as they do in Qingdao, as well as Laixi."

"As the host city of the 2008 Olympic Sailing Games, Qingdao is more than competent to the host the World Leisure Games," he said.

Laixi Deputy Mayor Shang Jie said Qingdao welcomes citizens across the globe to the games, which will be open for free to spectators.

To date, great efforts have been made to set up the infrastructure for the 2015 games.

Shang said the preparation for the leisure games will be integrated with the urbanization of Qingdao, the treatment of the Daguhe River, and the overall development of Laixi. The post event utilization of the sports facility will be taken as a high priority during the planning process.

Venues of the event include the Qingdao Olympic Center, the Laixi Sports Center, Jiangshan Wetland, Laixi Lake, and Daguhe Leisure Sports Park. The Daguhe River treatment project will provide 40 million square meters of water space and a 46 million sq m of river-edge park. A 4-meter-wide bike track will also be built along the river.

Shang said all sports facilities will be utilized for schooling and mass fitness after the games. "With the progress of economic development, tourism has been given increasing attention from common people, and the second world leisure games will have a positive impact on people's lifestyles, helping them balance their work and life with leisure," Shang added.