Overseas beach volleyball players said?in Beijing?that Beijing's air did not have negative impact on their training and they would concentrate on getting more practice before the kick-off of the tournament.
While training at Chaoyang Park in eastern Beijing, Belgium's Liesbeth Mouha, ranked 13th in the world, said that the air quality in the Chinese capital is much better than she expected.
"I've heard somebody else say that the pollution sometimes prevented them from seeing the ball while playing, but it did not bother us at all," she said.
Mouha said she was confident to win a medal although other teams including China are quite strong.
German athlete Okka Rau echoed Mouha's view. "The environment here is not bad, and one feels pleasant to be inside the venue," she commented on Saturday.
Australian beach volleyball star Natalie Cook told the press Monday that she noticed that the air quality turned a bit thicker in the morning but added that pollution will have no impact on her performance.
"China has done a great job to host the Games," the four-time Olympian said.
Men's beach volleyballer Josh Slack said they have been used to competing in all environments.
"We compete all over the world in various environments. It's not much different to this," he said.
The beach volleyball preliminaries run through Aug. 9 to 14, followed by elimination matches until Aug. 22. Top teams from each pool and two best third-placed teams advance to the top 16. The remaining four third-placed teams play two playoffs to determine the remaining two berths in top 16.
(Xinhua News Agency August 5, 2008)