China's Chen Zhongyun/Zhang Zhiwu did exceptionally well to gain a silver medal in today's men's C-2 1000m final, which brought the team added confidence in achieving good results at next year's Olympic Games.

The Chinese pair was beaten to the second place by their Romanian counterparts by a mere 0.622 second. "It was a pity we were overtaken at the last minute," Chen Zhongyun was quoted as saying after the race.

However, the silver medal, which came as a lovely surprise to the Chinese team, would help them further improve their performance in the days to come, particularly in the absolute speed in starting and the final spurt.

As the oldest member on the Chinese team, Chen Zhongyun, who has been engaged in the sport for some 20 years, said that since it would be his last Olympics he would certainly try his utmost to strive for good results at the Beijing Games.