Source: CCTV.com

08-07-2007 11:10

Special Report:   2008 Beijing Olympics

The sport of beach volleyball has been gaining an increasing amount of attention in China. In the last decade, a group of dedicated players and the sports administration have thrown their full support behind developing a world class team. As a result, beach volleyball has emerged as one of the country's many hopes for gold at next year's Beijing Olympics.

China have made dramatic progress in the sport, culminating in the men's and women's golds last year at the Asian Games in Doha. Now the goal is nothing less than Olympic gold.

After being a major power in women's volleyball for a long time, China have now begun seeing similar success in beach volleyball. China's women now hold the top two spots in the current beach volleyball world rankings.

Beach volleyball was only introduced to China in the late 1990's, when it was seen more as a novelty than a serious sport.