BEIJING, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- Hungarian paddler Zoltan Benko told Xinhua here Wednesday that his country has good reasons to achieve good results in canoe/kayak flatwater events at Beijing Olypmics.

    After his semifinal race in men's kayak single 1,000m in Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park, Benko said that he was not satisfied with the result he achieved in the race, but would try to do better in the next race.

    He finished third in his group with a result of three minutes and 34.473 seconds, having qualified for the final.

    When asked about the reasons of his country's success in the sport, he listed three.

    "We have a culture of training, have good coaches. We have support from the federation and we have athletes training hard," he said.

    "When you compared our national population and the number of people in the sport, you know it is a big figure," he added.

    He said that in Hungary there are dozens of canoe/kayak clubs. In his club, there are about 500 people practising canoeing and kayaking.

    "I took up kayaking because I live close to a river," he said, adding that professional paddlers in his country also get good pay.

    Hungary has won a total of 67 Olympic medals in canoe/kayak flatwater events since 1936, including 17 gold medals. The country has also gathered 159 world championship titles. It tops the current world rankings of the International Canoe Federation.