Chinese ambassador briefs Cypriot media on Beijing Olympics

NICOSIA, April 30 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Ambassador to Cyprus Zhao Yali confirmed here on Wednesday that Cypriot President Demetris Christofias will attend the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games.

At a press conference on the occasion of the 100-day countdown to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, Zhao briefed Cypriot media on the preparation for the Olympics, which has been a "century-old dream" for the Chinese people.

The 2008 Beijing Olympics, itself a sports competition, also offers an opportunity for understanding and friendship between athletes and peoples from all over the world, said the ambassador.

He added that China is now ready to display its 5,000-year-old civilization and progress of modernization to the whole world.

The ambassador expressed China's gratitude for the clear stance of the Cypriot government that politics should be kept away from the Olympics.

Zhao hopes that the Cypriot athletes will succeed at the Beijing Olympics, especially in skeet shooting, tennis and high jump.

No Cypriot athlete has managed to stand on the Olympic podium since the island state's first participation in 1980.

In recent years, some Olympic hopefuls have appeared on the east Mediterranean island. George Achilleos, a skeet shooter, is currently the first in the world ranking. High jumper Kyriakos Ioannou, secured a bronze medal in the 2007 World Championships in Osaka, Japan.

Cypriots hope that the two promising athletes, along with the island's leading tennis player Marcos Baghdatis, can make a breakthrough for Cyprus at the Beijing Olympic Games.