Beijing, China, August 4, 2008 - The Chinese Men's team appeared at their first open training session Monday afternoon at the newly-renovated Capital Indoor Stadium ahead of the start of the Beijing Olympic Games.

The lineup of captain Shen Qiong, spikers Cui Jianjun, Yuan Zhi, Yu Dawei, setter Jiao Shuai and libero Ren Qi is highly possible to be the team's starting one, almost the same squad for China at the recent World League tournament.

During the 90-minute training, the team, all in their newly-designed red and white jerseys, were divided into two groups with the main squad all on one side.

"The guys are all in good shape and we're happy there is no serious injuries now," said Song Weiping, the team's doctor.

Head coach Jianan Zhou seems to be more relaxed while dealing with media than his counterpart Zhonghe Chen, Head Coach of the Chinese Women, who kept quiet throughout the team's first training session at the other competition venue, the Beijing Institute of Technology Gymnasium, also on Monday afternoon.

"I hope my team can step on a new stage at the Games," said Zhou, who was captain of the Chinese Men for a period in the 1990s.

China, ranked 21st in the world, the lowest among the 12 competitors, has practically set their goal to enter the final eight.

The sole Olympic showing of the men's team goes back to 1984, when the team headed for the Los Angeles in haste as substitute for the former Soviet Union and finished eighth.

Qualifying the Beijing Games as host, the team is grouped with Athens runner-up Italy, World Cup bronze medalist Bulgaria, the United States, ranked third, Japan and Venezuela.

Zhou showed some confidence as China finished a record seventh place at the World League tournament with a 6-6 win-loss record.

"The players have been greatly inspired by the Wolrd League trip. I'm glad they have enough confidence and show strong determination to fight and to win, which is just what I want," he said.

Twelve men's teams are divided into two groups to compete in the preliminary round of the Olympic Volleyball tournaments in Beijing that runs through Aug. 10-18. The knockout stages run from Aug. 20 to 24. China will play against its first opponent Bulgaria on Aug. 10. (Xinhua)