TONGLING, China - A group of Chinese shool children are infatuated with weightlifting and have formed a team to practise the sport as their daily exercise after school.

"Fight! China!" the voices from a child weightlifting team always arouse the attention of spectators in the City Stadium in Tongling in East China's Anhui province, where the 2011 Asian Weightlifting Championships was going on.

These special young guests from Xuba Village of the host city were invited by the local government to watch the event for free. It was the first time for them to watch a continental sports event at the scene and witnessed their idols, the world-renowned weightlifters.

The primary students should play basketball, football or ping-pong in their spare time in the view of ordinary Chinese people. However, this group of children chooses weightlifting as their daily exercise.

Xuba is a small village far from the crowd, and people need to take a bus then a ferry to get there from Tongling. The training room of the team was converted from a classroom of the Xuba Primary School.

On the wall of the training room, there are pictures of Olympic champions such as Long Qingquan and Zhang Xiangxiang. However, the training room itself is simple.

Wang Shouwen, the coach of the team, also the PE teacher of the Xuba Primary School, was once the provincial weightlifting champion of Anhui province. He went back to his hometown, Xuba village, and set up the child team in 2009, which he named "Little &Little Weightlifting Team".

There are 12 boys and 10 girls aging from 11 to 14 in the team currently. "More than 10 students of my team have already been sent to the provincial or municipal sports schools," said Wang proudly.

"Although we don't have much time for training, the children take the training very seriously and have made a lot of progress," said Wang on Sunday.

Every morning, the members of the child team arrive at school 40 minutes earlier than their classmates and do some exercise such as running and jumping rope. After school, Wang cultivates their interests in weightlifting by playing games.

Fourteen-year-old Huang Rui has been in the child team for more than two and half years. When asked whether the training was hard for him, Huang said," I like this sport because when I make a snatch or a jerk I feel fulfilled."

Huang's dream is to participate in the Olympic Games as a lifter in the future and win a gold medal, just like his idol, Chinese lifter Long Qingquan.

Surprisingly, Huang looks thin but can lift over 60 kilograms. In Wang's view, Huang has the potential to become a great lifter due to his overall quality.

"I want to try heavier weight but my coach seldom let me do that,"  said Huang. "He insists that I should strengthen the basic skills first."

Wang told Xinhua that he now mainly focused on cultivating the interests of children on weightlifting, improving their physical fitness and enhancing their physical coordination and flexibility.

"In my team, the children will not be allowed to lift the heavy barbell until I think they are ready. Usually, it will take two years for them to enhance body quality. Before that, they use bamboo pole instead of barbells," said Wang.

Wang said that his goal was not to turn every child in the team to a lifter in future, but to enhance their body quality. "If they have potential and interest to become a lifter, I will help them go to sports school and receive more professional and comprehensive training."

The Chinese weightlifting team won eight gold medals in the Beijing Olympic Games but there is a crisis of talents shortage behind the glory.

A nationwide research revealed that the training of future lifters in the county level was getting weak, according to Ma Wenguang, chairman of Chinese Weightlifting Association.

Ma once visited the Xuba village and communicated with the child weightlifting team. "Under the crisis of lifter shortage, the trial like the child weightlifting team is worth promoting," said Ma.

By now, the child team has been sponsored three sets of weightlifting equipment by the weightlifting department of the State Sports General Administration and the Sports Bureau of Anhui Province.

"Every child in my team has an Olympic dream," said Wang. "My dream is to help them approach near to realize their dream."