In a some five-square meter-room in Chaoyang Park, acoustic engineer Sun Yi was busy pressing buttons on an acoustic equipment to find the right song for the cheerleaders.
Outside in the sand, a group of bikini-clad Chinese cheerleaders were dancing on the orders of their coach. The coach gestured every now and then to Sun to ask him to change musical segment. Sun had to stoop down to play songs and stand up frequently to watch for hint through a window.
A sophomore year student from China's Communication University, Sun said Tuesday that it was unexpected for him to work as an acoustics engineer for Olympic beach volleyball match.
Sun and most of his schoolmates have applied for a short-term working post during the Beijng Olympic Games. He said that "I came here because I know nothing about beach volleyball at first, but found out it to be an event of so much fun," Sun said.
Sun added that the demand is high for acoustic engineer who are required to play the right song within 20 seconds after the ball hits the sand.
"Compared with my schoolmates working for other games, this is more toilsome," said the 19-year-old boy.
More than 30 songs of various musical genres have been prepared for the tournament, ranging from popular songs, rock'n'roll to R&B, according to Sun.
Ever since it debuted as a medal sport in Atlanta in 1996, beach volleyball has been one of the most popular spectator sport partly due to its revelry atmosphere.
The dancing team perform between sets, matches and at most time-outs, added to the allure. On Bondi Beach in 2000, the event attracted the fifth largest television audience of the 28 sports.
Sun hoped that beach volleyball event would be loved by more Chinese people after the Beijing Games, especially when Chinese women's duo Tian Jia/Wang Jie claimed a medal.
(Xinhua News Agency August 6, 2008)