2019 Military World Games torch relay held in host city Wuhan

The torch relay for the 2019 Military World Games took place in Wuhan on Wednesday, with 100 torchbearers passing the flame on a route through the host city's iconic East Lake Greenway.

The torch relay for the 2019 Military World Games starts in Wuhan on October 16, 2019. [Photo: China Plus/Li Jin]

The flame will be used to light the cauldron in the Wuhan Sports Center, where the opening ceremony will take place on Friday night.

The relay began with Liao Hui, weightlifting gold medalist at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, collecing the torch from Jiang Chaoliang, Communist Party chief of central China's Hubei Province. Chinese hammer thrower Zhang Wenxiu, a three-time Olympic medalist, was the last one to carry the torch.

The 100 torchbearers consisted of Olympic champions, Military World Games participants, researchers, experts, soldiers and foreign representatives from CISM member states.

Ma Xu, a former military medical worker and a soldier in China's airborne troop, ran the 98th leg of the relay, with the 86-year-old being the day's oldest torchbearer. In 2018, Ma donated her life savings of 10 million RMB (over 1.4 million U.S. dollars) to support the educational and cultural development of her hometown.