BEIJING, Dec. 15 -- This may be the golden era of the student-athlete in China.

    When Liu Tianyou, who studies at Tsinghua University, won two gold medals in shooting on the opening day of the ongoing Asian Games, other university students in the nation's 647-member delegation came into the public limelight.

    Two of them are Liu's schoolmates, Liu Qing, a star middle-distance runner, and Hu Kai, the first Chinese to win the men's 100 metres in a major international event.

    Also, China Agricultural University sent its rugby team to compete in Doha as China's representative, slugging it out with powerhouses from Asia.

    All of them are enjoying the chance to compete, showcasing sportsmanship as well as academic credentials, to the envy of China's full-time athletes.

    "Of course, life as a full-time athlete is very different from the life of a student," Liu Tianyou said after his victory. "I have to go to class for half the day. At school, training is not as competitive as it is on the national team, so I'm under less pressure at school.

    "I think it's a good way to combine sport and education."

    Tsinghua, which also sent Hu, champion at the World Universiade last year, is well known for the way it combines sports and education.

    "My experience has been similar to Hu's," Liu Tianyou said. "I am also a student and will treat every competition as a step forward. Whether I win or not, it is more important that I mature."

    Tsinghua has good relations with the national shooting team. The school's coach, former Olympic and world champion Wang Yifu, earlier coached the national team.

    Tsinghua has contributed to China's national and international success in other sports, as well, such as athletics and diving.

    More important, the athletes still attend classes and study their majors like normal students.

    "We have to pass all our classes to get our degrees, so it is very important for us to have enough classes apart from training," said Zhao Yinghui, another Tsinghua student who won a gold and a silver in shooting at the Asian Games.

    Zhao, a full-time shooter before 2004, said campus life helps develop her mind.

    "I have a half-day of classes at Tsinghua, but the environment is peaceful and makes me feel comfortable," she said. "I find I have improved in how to deal with pressure and how to control my rhythm."

    Chen Weiqiang, director of Tsinghua's sports education and research office, said: "We are achieving good results without sacrificing education."

    Another factor in the school's success is that it employs top coaches, two of whom are Yu Fen, former national diving coach, and Zhang Heng, former coach of the national shooting team.

    But Chen said that it is equally important for these student-athletes to finish their studies.

    "Apart from daily training and the month-long outdoor training they do in summer and winter, they have campus lives similar to other students and have to pass all their examinations too," he said. "They have to make up the work for all the classes they miss because of competitions."

    Chen seems proudest that thanks to the quality of the combination of education and sports, more than 85 per cent of Tsinghua's students enter employment unrelated to sports after graduation.

    That wasn't always the case. In the past, Chinese athletes spent most of the time training and competing.

    Although a few athletes have been able to earn big bucks after outstanding sports achievements, a huge percentage of them struggle after retirement. At least 20 per cent of China's retired athletes are jobless, media reports have said.

    (Source: China Daily)