The confident Chinese men's gymnasts, aiming to win their fourth consecutive team title, had to take a day off and relax as the 1999 Gymnastics World Championships started Saturday in Tianjin with only women's qualification rounds held in the first day's competitions.

　 Li Xiaopeng, winner of the 1997 world team title, is regarded the backbone of the defending champions the Chinese men's team at the Tianjin championships.

　 "I feel good." Li said, "I am prepared well for tomorrow's competition. But the only problem annoying me is nowhere to find my favorite fruit jelly," complained the 18-year-old Li.

　 "That will be great if I could have my fruit jelly. We have been practicing within the training hall and staying in the hotel nearby. That's our daily routine since we arrived in Tianjin," said Li, who is also expected to win the parallel bars and floor exercise.

　 Lu Yufu, also a 1997 world champion member and is renowned for his difficult vault routine, said: "I am calm. What filling my mind is the technical details of my routine."

　 "I will challenge the all-around medal," said the shy Lu, who was dispatched home due to knee injury at the Bangkok Asian Games last December.

　 Lu is tipped the possible surprise winner at the current championships, according to Chinese head coach Huang Yubin. "The only thing he needs to win is to perform his normal standard and forget pressure." Huang said.

　 The averaging 16-year-old Chinese women's gymnasts, however, are not that relaxing as their men's team before the championships, also serves as the qualifying event for next year's Sydney Olympic Games.

　 "I could not sleep for these days. I thought about the competition all the time," said Dong Fangxiao, a vault and beam favorite.

　 Dong is not the only debutantes who felt pressure, Asian Games champion Ling Jie, and national champions Huang Mandan and Xu Jing all admitted that they were excited to compete with those world-class gymnasts.

　 With a height of 1.31-meter and a weight of 31kg, Bai Chunyue is believed the most promising star after she won the all-around silver medal at the national championships this year.

　 "It is a good chance for me to compete in Tianjin world championships. I repeatedly told myself to calm down and have a best shot," the diminutive Bai said.

　 "Everyone pats at my head as I'm a little kid. I am yet a famous gymnast. I have to say it is a good thing that I arose people's attention," she said. (Xinhua)