Teng Haibin, Olympic gold medalist of gymnastics in 2004 Athens, held the torch to run the first section of the 4-kilometer relay course.

 BEIJING, August 14 (Xinhuanet) -- To the beat of drums and accompanied by traditional arts performances, the torch for China's 10th National Games was relayed in Yanshan district, west of Beijing, on Sunday.

    It was part of the nationwide torch relay which will cover 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities as well as Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions in 44 days.

    On September 20 all the torches will reach Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu proinvce where the tenth National Games will be held.

    In Beijing, Teng Haibin, Olympic gold medalist of gymnastics in 2004 Athens, held the torch to run the first section of the 4-kilometer relay course before handing it to the second runner Zhang Jian, who succeeded in swimming across the English Channel.

    The other two relay runners were a representative for grass roots sport practitioners and a sports fan from local area.

    A large crowd of over 6,000 people were involved in the course of the torch relay, following the torch carriers or doing traditional Chinese art performances.

Zhang Jian, who succeeded in swimming across the English Channel is running the second section of the 4-kilometer relay course.

    The flame, rekindled every four years, had been ignited Friday in Beijing through three kindlings representing "Science", "Civilization" and "Renaissance".

    The quadrennial National Games, which runs its 10th edition from October 12 through 24, has been billed as China's mini-Olympics, which feature all the 28 summer sports as well as some of the winter sports.

    All the Chinese gold medalists of last year's Athens Games are expected to compete at the Games. Enditem