BEIJING, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping urged the country's Olympic and world champions enrolled at Beijing Sport University to make greater contributions to China's sporting culture and society.

"I'm glad to know that you cherish your opportunity of pursuing further study while also training hard and promoting sports," Xi said in an open letter addressed to the postgraduate class of Olympic and world champions.

Xi said he had watched a number of their competitions and hailed the athletes for "fighting hard to achieve excellent results and win glory for our country at major international competitions."

"I hope you maintain your efforts, continue to build China into a leading sporting nation and bring more positive energy to Chinese society," Xi added.

In 2003, Beijing Sport University set up a postgraduate class aimed solely at Olympic and world champion athletes. The class of 2016 recently wrote a letter to President Xi, detailing their studies and training regime. This class consists of eight Olympic champions, 14 world champions and two champion coaches.