China is hopeful to win its first ever Olympic rowing gold medal in next year's Beijing Games, Denis Oswald, president of the International Federation of Rowing Associations (FISA), said on Thursday.

"China has the world top rowers and it is likely for them to win championships in the Beijing Olympics. But it is hard to make exact predictions," Oswald said.

Chinese rowing team has become one of the strongest in the world as its senior rowers won several races in the last rowing World Cup, he told Xinhua News Agency.

"But I am sure the Chinese rowers will win several medals in the Beijing Olympics," he said in the newly-built Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park in the northeastern outskirt of Beijing.

The FISA president said he was impressed with the performance of the Chinese junior rowers in the on-going 2007 World Rowing Junior Championships.

Chinese rowing crews finished first in seven of the 41 heats on the first day of the four-day championships. They competed in 12 of the 13 competition disciplines.

The 2007 World Rowing Junior Championships, kicked off on Wednesday, has attracted more than 600 rowers under or at 18 years old from 50 countries and regions. It is the first of a series of Good Luck Beijing Sport Events served as testing games for the 2008 Olympics.

"The young rowers will be greatly enriched in the championships and help China win more medals in the 2012 London Olympic Games," said Oswald.

Meanwhile, he hoped the same service personnel in the junior championships will be involved in the Beijing Olympics.

"Their work will become much easier as they know more well of what we expect for them."

The FISA president said he was also impressed by the world's first class, state-of-art venue and the smiling and hospitable volunteers.

"I hope that China can provide precise weather forecasts in 2008 Olympics as rowing, an outdoor sport, can be greatly affected by bad weather conditions."

Oswald cited an experience in Athens Olympics as saying that they successfully avoided bad weather one day by starting competitions one hour ahead of schedule after the weather forecast said there would be heavy wind at noon.

(Xinhua News Agency August 9, 2007)