Yungzhung Puncog now walks to and from his school every day.

"When the Olympic torch comes here, I do not want to gasp after I run only a few steps holding the torch," said the 35-year-old, a Tibetan sports teacher at the Kangding Middle School in the Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in the southwest Sichuan Province.

He still remembers September 10 last year when he knew he was recommended by the school to be a torch bearer candidate. "At that moment, I was so excited that I almost cried." he said. "I felt I was so lucky and had a feeling of happiness falling from the heaven.

"It is not only my honor but also all Tibetans honor for me to be so lucky to be a torch bearer."

He was confirmed a torch bearer in March, and he said it was luck and love that made him a torch bearer.

"First, it is luck, the favor of fate for me. Second, it is love. As a sports teacher, I love my career, my hometown and even more my motherland."

He is one of the 832 people who will undertake the relay in June inside the province.

"200 meters is very short, but I shall run the most splendid and beautiful moment in my life," he said.

"What I represent at that moment is a strong Tibetan and a sports-loving Chinese."

Talking about the sabotage activities targeting the relay from Tibetan separatists and other protesters about human rights in China in some countries, Yungzhung Puncog said "they were just making a show of themselves in disturbing the torch relay".

"The Olympic Games are a grand event for the people of the whole world and a symbol of peace. To sabotage the Olympic torch relay is to sabotage the peace."

The teacher said he believed the government would take powerful measures to ensure the smooth relay in China. But in case an incident did occur, he said he would do everything he could to protect the torch.

"I am willing to spread the Olympic spirit to everyone. I am looking forward to the advent of the holy moment."

(Xinhua News Agency April 17, 2008)