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Beach volleyball 08/05/2014

Chinese beach volleyball pair Li Jian and Chen Cheng answer fan questions

Lausanne,
Switzerland, May 8, 2014 – Chinese beach volleyball fans were in for a treat
this year, as the first two FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour events were hosted
in the country, in Fuzhou and Shanghai.

The
fans witnessed their hometown stars excel on the sand, with a bronze medal by Xue
Chen and Xia Xinyi, while having the opportunity to see more home teams on the
sand than usual, as the host country.

To
get to know the home stars, beach volleyball pair Li Jian and Chen Cheng sat
down at Shanghai to answer fan questions, collected
from FIVB fans on Facebook
and Chinese social media sites Sina Weibo and Tencent Weibo.

Q1: You've been playing beach
volleyball as a team for a few years now. Can you tell me how your partnership
has grown over the years?

Cheng: It has been like 10 years since
2012 when we took part in the global competition. We had fights before, but
gradually we cooperate with each other much better, and we understand each
other only by eye contacting.

Li: It is kind of fate to be a
partner, everyone has it's ambitious time and also everyone is going to be old.
No matter what, I will cherish this best time.

Q2: Over the years, what has been
your favorite moment, what stands out the most? What do you look forward to the
most?

Cheng: Since the end of 2008, We have
learned to make a concerted effort. And it's unforgettable experience. We are very united either on training or
matches. On the court, we understand each other much better. So I feel it's
that was the most unforgettable year. Moreover, we won the champion of the
national games.

Q3: Can you tell us what you did to
prepare for the Shanghai tournament?

Cheng: This time we are matched up
against groups which are very strong, like Holland and the U.S. They are all
the top volleyball players. We learn to improve ourselves by playing against
them. The main objective of us on this match is to exercise and to improve
ourselves.

Q4: We had a chance to meet and
interview Xue Chen and Xia Xinye at the
Fuzhou Open earlier this week. Are you friends with them?

Cheng: We're close and we like to have
fun together. Since all of us are very easy-going, we would like to make some
jokes with each other. And now, Xue Chen is the best Chinese female player. Xia
Xin Yi has nickname of "Toto", she is interesting, often tells us
jokes.

Q5: As Xue Chen and Xia Xinye are new
partners and you have lots of experience being partners, would you like to
share any advice?

Cheng: Xia Xin Yi is quite young now,
after partner with Xue Chen, Xia will grow fastly by learning all the
experience from her. I can say, if they could work together for another 3-4
years, Rio Olympics is not dream at all.

Li: Sincerely wish them could do
great in the future, Xia Xin Yi is very young and she has lots of opportunity.
We could never foresee what abundant performance she could achieve. Even now, we already know she has huge
potential.

Q6: FIVB has grown many Weibo
followers over the last few months. Are you surprised at the rapid growth of
the sport in China?

Cheng: Not a lot of people love playing
beach volleyball unlike many westerners who play beach volleyball just because
of they love it, which is something we should learn from.

Q7: Do you have any special words for
our younger fans who are starting to enjoy volleyball?--

Li: Beach volleyball is some kind of
activity, which doesn't require high skills.

When
you have leisure time, you could ask some of your friends or relatives to go to
beach together. Enjoy the fun time by
playing beach volleyball together. Maybe you will start loving it. Sport like
Beach volleyball will be developed after it prevails among people.

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