Uygur dancer ready to step out in style

URUMQI: Large earrings glistened in the sunlight under her Uygur hat as Amudu Kelimu Rena swayed her hips from side to side.

Wearing the red-and-white uniform of a torchbearer and hair down to her waist: Rena said: "I hope I will be able to do a short dance while carrying the torch."

Rena is one of 12 Muslim women who will carry the Olympic torch today in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. Eight of them are Uygurs and four belong to the Hui ethnic group. Except for one, they are all working women, aged between 18 and 39.