OLYMPICS/ Preliminaries
Young Chinese rowers hope to compete in Olympics
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-08-08 20:12
Young Chinese rowers hope to turn in good performance at the four-day World Rowing Junior Championships, so as to have an opportunity to compete in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
The championships, one of the "Good Luck Beijing" tests , was held in the newly-built Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park in northeastern outskirt of Beijing. It was served as a test tournament for the Beijing Olympics and attracted more than 600 rowers under or at 18 years old form 50 countries and regions worldwide.
Chinese rowers took part in 12 of the 13 disciplines on the first day and finished first in seven of the 41 heats of the championships, which Liu Hong, a member of China's Women's Four, said she wantd to achieve good results because whether she will have the chance to join the Games depends on match results from now on.
"The championships can be regarded as preparation for the Olympics. To compete with so many world top young rowers will greatly enrich our experience and help improve our performance in later competitions," said the 18-year-old Chinese.
She added that it is hard to make predictions for the final results as she knows little about her rivals, especially those from overseas.
China's Women's Four finished the 2,000-meter-course in 6:53.68, trailing the 7:07.11 of Germany who ranked first in another heat.
Zhu Weiwei, who finished first in the second heat of the women's single sculls, said that to compete in Beijing Olympics is the dream of all young Chinese rowers.
"I played quite well today. I'm rather relaxed on the heat, but the pressure will be heavier at the final with many strong foreign girls," said the 17-year-old rower.
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