A total of 13 winners will emerge from the finals of the "Good Luck Beijing" 2007 World Rowing Junior Championships on August 11. For young rowers yet to improve themselves through more international competitions, the results are likely to differ much from those of an adult competition. On the whole, Germany and China, with vast superiority in overall strength, boast the most boats which qualified for Group A finals.

Germany has always been most competitive in rowing and won 11 gold medals at one of the World Junior Championships. This time, the German rowers, who are national champions from different regions and clubs in the country, qualified for Group A finals in all the 13 events contested. Many German teenagers join rowing clubs for regular training, and that is why rowing has become a traditionally strong sport there, just as Africa is strong in some athletic events.

In the past, China has seldom sent large numbers of athletes to the World Junior Championships, but as the host China has attached great importance to the ongoing event. This time, except the men's four which is not developed in the country, China entered for all the other 12 events and qualified for 10 Group A finals. As the National Inter-city Games are to be held this year, the training level of many provincial and municipal teams have been remarkably improved, and those who have come out on top in the preliminaries of the Intern-city Games are indeed represent the highest level of those under 18 in China.

It is said that all the excellent rowers standing out of the preliminary matches of the National Intercity Games this year are actually the top ones among all Chinese young rowers under 18.

The emergence of so many young promising rowers from China has aroused the attention of other countries, many teams regard China as one of the strongest teams. Even Germany said cautiously that they would try to win half of the goal medals. According to the Chinese chief coach Gao Jingping, Chinese rowers have high hopes of taking medals in 10 Group A finals they are going to compete. However, when two teams are well-matched, whether they will apply proper tactics and bring out their best will count.

Judging by the number of boats in the Group A finals, Germany definitely gets the upper hand. As Chinese team manager Liu Qizheng put it, China uses this tournament tried its best in all matches for the purpose of toughening young rowers, while some of other countries, for the purpose of entering finals, tactically saved their physical strength, thus, the factor will determine results to some extent.

Whether the two teams can row away with most gold medals or not, we cannot assert the setup of world rowing with the results or relate it to the World Championships or the Olympic Games. It is more important that, like in Germany which boasts a considerable numbers of rowing clubs, many young people love the sport, engage themselves in the sport and perhaps become a top-notch rower some day. Only in this way, under a natural, high-level training system, will a country or a region be able to bring up large numbers of young promising rowers from time to time.

As many of the young competitors in Beijing are making their debut in an international tournament, the 2007 World Rowing Junior Championships held at an Olympic venue will be an unforgettable experience for them. They may well start their rowing career from now on or just enjoy the fun of the sport. Therefore, the value of making friends through competition and enjoying beautiful scenery of a future Olympic city may go beyond that of the championship itself.