World champions lead field in Chinese City Games

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Sunday, October 19, 2003

World champions lead field in Chinese City Games

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World champions like Luo Xuejuan and Tan Xue are leading the field of dozens of world-class athletes to compete at the Chinese City Games in Changsha unveiled Saturday night, which barely caught the eyes of sports fans.

The City games, which were usually contests between cities showing out their sports commitment, have the flavor of cradling future stars being prepared for the 2008 Olympic Games and attractmost of the youth elites of the country.

Luo, gold medalist of the women's 50m and 100m breast stroke and 4X100m medley race at the World Swimming Championships last July in Barcelona, gave unprecedented excitement in the pool to the fans of Changsha, a medium-size capital city of Hunan Province

in the central China. "The competition is a part in my training schedule for next year's Olympic Games, but I will try to win as more golds as I can," said the 19-year-old triple world swimming champion from Hangzhou.

Qi Hui, world record holder of women's 200m breaststroke here competing for Fuzhou delegation, will meet Luo in the tournament.

The star-packed swimming competition also includes champion swimmers at Busan Asiad Yang Yu from Hangzhou, Zhou Yafei from Qingdao, Zhan Shu from Shenyang and Wu Peng from Hangzhou, which bring in as much enthusiasm as possible.

The fencing competition also became one of the favorite events in the 20-day tournament as China's first world champion of women's sabre Tan Xue heading the list. Her national teammates Bao Yingying, Huang Haiyang and Zhang Ying, who helped China win a team gold of women's sabre at the 14th Asian Games last October, are also here to challenge the 19-year-old Tianjiner as the Nanjing and Shanghai fencing teams take credit for them.

Hunan-based national Wang Mingjuan, who has broken the world weightlifting record of women's 48kg three times, has virtually promised a gold for the host, while Gao Wei, the former champion of Weightlifting Worlds from Shenyang, will pose a tough challengefor Wang at the competition of the class.

In the field of shooting, promising stars raising at Busan Asiad Du Li from Zibo, Shandong province will have to face her national teammate Zhao Yinghui, who picked a team gold of women's air rifle at Busan and compete here for Shijiazhuang.

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