World silver medalist Wu Peng will head top swimmers to test the
morning finals at the Chinese Spring National Championships in
Foshan, Guangdong Province from May 15-21.
The meet will offer swimmers first touch of morning finals in
readiness for the upside-down program at the Olympic Games in
Beijing 2008.
There are about 416 swimmers from 30 provincial teams and clubs
competing in the seven-day meet which also serves as one of the
qualifiers for the 2008 Olympic Games.
Wu, men's 200 meters butterfly silver medalist at the Melbourne
world championships, will show up in the 100m butterfly, 200m and
400m freestyle instead of his favorite event.
The 20-year-old Wu said: "It is the first time we compete finals
in the morning. I just want to test myself whether I can get used
to it."
Chinese swimmers finished one silver and one bronze medal at the
Melbourne worlds and most of them suffered from below-par
performances in the morning.
Zhang Yadong, head coach of the Chinese national team, said: "We
have changed our morning training session from 9am to 6am as soon
as we came back home from the worlds. We should live in Beijing
Olympic timetable from now on."
"It is hard to reach peak form in the morning. The national meet
can tell us what to change and what to improve for the Olympic
Games. It is a challenge." Zhang said.
However, women's breaststroker Qi Hui will miss the meet
according to her training schedule.
"Qi is recovering from tiredness from the world championships
and just returned to training recently." Zhang said.
(Xinhua News Agency May 15, 2007)