China's list of qualified athletes for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games is growing longer with the Chinese women's quadruple team making the cut for the greatest sporting event in the world.

Cui Xiaotong, Lyu Yang, Zhang Ling and Chen Yunxia finished first in the women’s quadruple sculls and became the first team to qualify for next year's Olympics.

China took gold at the Olympic Games in 2008 in this race and the quartet came through to the finish looking smooth and relaxed at a 36-stroke rate. They moved away to a full boat length lead and crossed the line first in 6 minutes and 18 seconds, advancing to the final directly and grabbing the country's first ticket to the Tokyo Games in the water sport. New Zealand finished second and Great Britain were third. 

The Chinese Rowing Association (CRA) has set its sights on getting two to three gold medals at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, as the governing body aims to promote rowing in the world's most populous country. Five-time Olympic gold medalist and rowing legend Steve Redgrave has been the high-performance director of China's national rowing team as the country is hoping to win an Olympic gold next year before achieving further success in the sport in Paris in 2024.

The Briton was appointed last year and tasked with implementing a youth development program and a coach training system.

China's only Olympic rowing gold medal came in the women's quadruple sculls event at Beijing 2008 and the country has won nine Olympic rowing medals in all, including two bronze medals at Rio 2016.