NANNING, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) -- Among over 20,000 athletes participating in China's inaugural Student (Youth) Games, some have demonstrated their potential of becoming future stars of Chinese sport.

Chen Yujie, 14, clocked a stunning 11.43 seconds in the women's 100m in the middle school division, a faster time than college division champion Ge Manqi, though Asian Games gold medalist Ge was not running at full strength.

"Ge has always been my idol. I'm so excited and I'll keep learning from her," remarked Chen, who also won the 200m gold and took a silver medal in the women's 4x100m relay.

Another emerging star on track is 17-year-old Wu Haolin, who lowered the men's 100m national junior record with a time of 10.31 seconds, beating the previous record set by Mo Youxue in 2013 by 0.04 seconds. Wu added a 4x100m relay gold medal to his triumph in the individual event.

Discussing his long-term goals, Wu expressed hopes of one day competing at the Olympic Games, following in the footsteps of his idols Usain Bolt and Su Bingtian.

In China's traditionally strong sport of weightlifting, 18-year-old Xu Luying emerged as the winner in the women's 45kg division with a 85-kilogram snatch, making her the only athlete to have tied the world record during the Games.

Chinese swimming also witnessed the presence of talents in Nanning, as Luo Youyang of Guangdong pocketed six titles in the college division, and 18-year-old Wang Haoyu, a title-winning member of the men's 4x100m freestyle relay at the Hangzhou Asiad, took his fifth gold in the Student (Youth) Games in the mixed 4x100m freestyle relay.

The Games also mirrors China's effort to boost various PE programs at schools in recent years.

Given the growing popularity of sport climbing, 23 schools in Mashan County of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region have promoted the sport, with more than 18,000 students having taken part in it by the end of 2022. Host Guangxi harvested three golds, three silvers and one bronze medal in the Games' climbing competition.

Born in Mashan, 14-year-old sport climbing champion Li Yantan has been determined to make the sport her life's work.

"When I first learned sport climbing, it was just fun for me, but now I'm going to keep doing it as long as I can," said Li, who was selected in the national youth training team at the age of just 12. Enditem

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