Chinese beach volleyball team begins training camp for Tokyo Games in Nanjing

BEIJING -- China's national beach volleyball team has started a training camp in the eastern Chinese city of Nanjing in preparations for the postponed Tokyo Olympic Games.

Beijing Olympic bronze medal winner Xue Chen was among 12 players who gathered at the training base in the capital city of Jiangsu province.

The 31-year-old, who had worked together with Zhang Xi to win China's first-ever Olympic medal in beach volleyball at the Beijing Games in 2008, was joined by Rio de Janeiro Olympian Wang Fan and Xia Xinyi, Wang Xinxin, Wen Shuhui, Wang Jingzhe in the women's squad while the men's roster features national games champions Gao Peng and Li Yang.

"All our players are in good shape right now. We will take the time and opportunity to improve skills and capabilities and get better prepared for the Olympic qualification tournaments," said team manager Cui Long.

The Tokyo Olympic Games, which were originally scheduled to take place from July 24 to Aug 9, 2020, have been pushed back by 12 months. The FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour is currently suspended until July 2020 with many events postponed or cancelled due to the global coronavirus pandemic.

The International Federation de Volleyball (FIVB) has announced that the beach volleyball Olympic qualification will only restart when it is safe to do so and allows all potential eligible athletes to participate.