Croatian President Stjepan Mesic said Tuesday that it is his great pleasure and honor to attend the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics next month.

In a written interview with Xinhua, Mesic said he would be following all of the Olympic competitions on television as much as his schedule would allow him to, noting that all the top athletes are participating at the Olympics and it is a pleasure to watch them compete.

"In my youth, I was an active athlete and I played handball, but now I prefer swimming and playing golf," the 73-year-old Mesic said, adding that he also for a while practiced nanbudo, a relatively recent martial art of Japanese origin.

A total of 106 Croatian athletes will compete at the Olympic Games in Beijing which will kick off on Aug. 8. This has been the largest Croatian Olympic delegation since the country gained its independence from the former Yugoslavia in 1991.

The Croatian athletes will compete in the following 15 sports: athletics, basketball, boxing, cycling, canoe/ kayak, gymnastics, handball, rowing, sailing, shooting, swimming, taekwondo, table tennis, tennis and water polo.

The first batch of 24 Croatian athletes left for Beijing Monday. President Mesic will visit the Croatian team in the Olympic village a day after the opening ceremony.

"I am convinced that all the athletes will do their best and that they will bring home as many medals as possible," said Mesic.

Croatian media reported that Croatians' main hopes for gold rest on women's high jump world champion Blanka Vlasic. Croatians also hope to get medals at handball, water polo, swimming and canoe/kayak.

As for bilateral ties between Croatia and China, Mesic said the two countries should work further to strengthen economic cooperation.

"Bilateral relations between our two countries are very good, but I believe that we should put more effort in strengthening our economic ties, with respect to our economic potentials and the size of both countries."

"China is a global economic giant, but Croatia, due to its geographic location, can serve as a point of entry for Chinese goods into European markets, and our ports are connected with Europe through expressways and railroads. This is a great potential for our economic relations," said Mesic.

(Xinhua News Agency July 30, 2008)