With less than four months before the International Olympic Committee decides on the host for 2018 Winter Olympics, the bidding race is to heat up this week as all three candidate cities address their campaign at the annual gathering of international sports journalists in Seoul.

The International Sport Press Association, or AIPS, is holding its annual congress at the COEX convention center in Seoul, from Tuesday until Friday. More than 200 sports journalists and officials from across the world are expected to come to Seoul for the five-day meeting.

Officials from PyeongChang, Annecy and Munich will also attend the annual gathering to make their pitches for the 2018 Games. On Wednesday, each bidding city is scheduled to deliver a 15-minute long presentation to international journalists.

After the meeting, the three bidders will head directly to New Caledonia for the Oceania Olympic congress, which is slated for Mar. 23-27. They will face each other again next month in London for the Sport Accord meeting and an IOC presentation summit in Lausanne in May. The IOC will deicide the 2018 host city at a meeting in Durban, South Africa, on July 6.

Meanwhile, the 74th annual AIPS meeting will also see the participation of leaders from other major sporting organizers including the London 2012 Olympic Games, Sochi 2014 Winter Games and also the Daegu World Athletics Championships.

The Korea Sports Press Union will organize the five-day congress, supported by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korean Olympic Committee.

By Oh Kyu-wook (596story@heraldcorp.com)