HUIZHOU, South China)-- The Olympic torch relay in Huizhou, the third stop in Guangdong province, kicked off with the local backstroker Chen Xiujun as the first bearer on Friday.

First torchbearer Chen Xiujun (L) receives the Beijing Olympic torch at an opening ceremony during the Beijing Olympic torch relay in Huizhou, Guangdong Province, May 9, 2008. [Xinhua]

Chen, 22, finished first in women's 200m backstroke at China's naitonal games 2001. A year later, she was ranked fourth at the Busan Asian Games in the event. In the 2004 Athens Games, Chen settled with the fourth place in 4x100 medley.

Other top athletes in torchbearers include Liang Wenbo, a snooker player and Lv Qin, an international chess master and Zhong Xiu'e, a retired wrestler.

Lv, a team and individual world chess champion, is the last one in the day's relay.

Liang is the champion at the 2005 world youth billiard championships, and also is the team champion at the Doha Asian Games 2006. He reached the quarterfinals at the World Championships 2008.

Zhong Xiu'e boasted a five-time world champion in a row and was entitled "Top Ten Wrestlers in 20th Century".

The Huizhou relay started at 8:10 local time in the City Stadium Square, set to pass East River Bridge, East River Sands Park, Rivers Joining Building, Pen Pagoda, Ancient City Gate, Flat Lake Gate, Huabianling Square, Huizhou College, South Line Intersection, Red Flower Lake, West Lake Gate, Ciyun Pavilion and Huizhou Bridge and Civic Eden.

The itinerary lasts for 30 kilometers, covering lake-encircling scenery, avenues, tree-thriving massif, demonstrating a scene of "half landscape and half lake" in the city.

Thousands of local residents witnessed the opening ceremony in which hundreds of pigeons were released.

Huizhou is a prefecture-level city in Guangdong province, China. Part of the Pearl River Delta, Huizhou borders the provincial capital of Guangzhou to the west, Shaoguan to the north, Heyuan to the northeast, Shanwei to the east, Shenzhen and Dongguan to the southwest, and looks out to the South China Sea to the south.

Its name is linked to the "four treasures of the scholar's studio", often referred to as Huizhou's "four treasures of the scholar's studio".

Huizhou gradually gained benefit from the Chinese economic reform in the late 1980s. The blossom of real estate market attracted capital investment from Hong Kong and Taiwan, together with the establishment of factories and plants by these investment.

In the provincial economic development strategy, Huizhou is regarded as a site for a world-class petrochemical industry, as well as the hub for solidifying information technology, and expanding exports and trades.