Special report: 2008 Olympic Games

    By sportswriters Fei Liena and Huang Yong

    BEIJING, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Chinese national boxing team wrapped up its three-month pre-Olympics training in Guizhou Province and arrived here Friday afternoon.

    Head coach Zhang Chuanliang told Xinhua that the training went on smoothly as scheduled, he and his team are confident that they will grab some medals during this Olympics.

    The boxers all seemed a bit tired and even thinner than before. They must keep a strict diet and control weight for the matches, as the boxing matches have 11 strict weight divisions where no one can overweight. Gu Yu of 54kg said the training was fine, except it was more intense than former trainings, as it's for the Olympics.

    Coach Zhang said his team members are now in good conditions, with 48 kg boxer Zou Shiming the biggest hopeful for an Olympic gold medal, the first Olympic boxing gold that China would ever have. But Zou should be careful of a few opponents such as Cuban Hernandez, Pilipino Tanamor and Hungarian Bedak.

    Li Yang of 57kg, Hanati Silamu of 69kg, Nijati Yushan of 91kg and Zhang Zhilei of over 91kg also have the possibility to win Olympic medals if they get lucky draws and fight well, said the coach.

    According to Zhang, China's current strongest rivals still remain from Cuba and Russia. Cuba used to be the big brother in former Olympic boxing matches, though it has lost five world champions in recent years and still has the power to smash most of its opponents.

    Russia never worries about lacking world champions or powerful boxers, and its overall strength is almost as strong as the Cubans. Some other foreign teams also improve fast in recent years such as Italy, said Zhang, so Chinese boxers must be serious about every opponent and every match.

    Three Xinjiang boxers also arrived in Beijing late Friday afternoon. Silamu said that he felt like fighting in a national tournament, as this Olympics is being held at our doorstep.

    "I'm very confident to fight well this time, trust me!" he said.

    The national boxing team will be training at the Olympic Sports Center on Friday night, almost without a stop from their former trainings. They will be fighting from Aug. 9 to 24 at the Worker's Stadium for 10 out of 11 events.