President encourages elite-athlete students to lead the way

President Xi Jinping encouraged a group of elite student athletes to make greater contributions to China's goal of developing into a stronger sporting nation as he replied to a letter they sent to him.

Xi wrote to students of the 2016 class of Beijing Sport University's champions' postgraduate program on Tuesday to urge them to keep working hard to shoulder greater responsibility in the development of the country's sporting culture and athletic prowess.

"I'm glad to know that you cherish your opportunity to pursue further study while also training hard and promoting sports," Xi said in his reply to a letter written jointly by the students in April.