#VOR - Three months after China's Dongfeng Race Team was confirmed as an entrant in the upcoming 12th edition of the Volvo Ocean Race, the first eight members of the team's training squad have been named following a tough selection process.
Ying Kit Cheng, Xue Liu, Yiran Zhang, Liang Wu, Jin Hao Chen, Jiru Wolf Yang, Sheng Shen and Ming Liu made the cut from a 20-strong group put through what the VOR website called "a challenging series of tests" at Sanya's Serenity Marina.
Next for this 'elite eight' will be a week of fitness and sea survival training, including a test race from Hong Kong to Sanya to assess their boat-handling skills.
But there's no guarantee that all of these names will end up on the final team that sets sail on their VOR 65 from Alicante this coming October, marking China's third challenge of the round-the-world yachting endeavour.
And another group of candidates will have the opportunity to prove their mettle in a second round of trials on 8-9 February.
The VOR website has more on this story HERE.
