Yang Wenjun, champion of the men's C-2 500m at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, expressed that he was likely to join hands with Meng Guanliang again for the Beijing Olympic Games.

The "Good Luck Beijing" Canoe/Kayak Flatwater Open is to open at Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park tomorrow. Yang expressed in an interview today that he focused on adapting to the course in this open and was likely to join hands with Meng Guanliang again for the Beijing Olympic Games next year.

"This is also my first time to have been here, so my main focus is to adapt to the course." Yang admitted that this open was just one of the links of the all-year preparations for the Olympic Games according to the training cycle because they had been in top form in the 2007 ICF Canoe-Kayak World Championships two weeks before. "Hopefully, I can achieve the result as expected by my coach and strive for a medal on the basis of good result."

After the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, Yang's major event gradually shifted from C-2 to C-1. Nevertheless, Yang revealed that it was still possible for him to join hands with Meng again to compete in C-2 at the Olympic Games next year. "This will mainly depend on the arrangement of our team, though it has been long since we paired last time, we were partners for years after all, so cooperation is not a problem. Actually, the most important is that either of us shall make a breakthrough in C-1 so that we can bring out the best in each other."

Seen from his performance in C-1, Yang is improving steadily. At the 2006 World Championships, Yang won the bronze medal, only 0.8s slower than the gold medalist, while on the World Championships this year, he who won the bronze medal again narrowed the gap to 0.3s.

It was the bronze medal on the World Championships this year that qualified Yang for the men's C-1 500m of the Beijing Olympic Games. So far, the Chinese canoe/kayak team has had three seats for the Beijing Olympic Games.