China's National Gymnastics Championships continues in south China's Guangdong Province. 

Before the event started, Qiao Liang, the head coach of the women's national team, talked with CGTN's Sports Scene about the team's preparations, as well as his coaching philosophy and his expectations for the contest in the city of Zhaoqing.

"The hard work in the foundation of this team, we have a strong, good supporting system, and also we have wonderful coaches," Qiao said. As the event is the first since the start of COVID-19 pandemic, the coach said the squad is focusing on their weaknesses, including by increasing strength training. "We work on the weakness or weak events, such as vault or floor exercise, everything will not happen overnight, but the team works hard together every day."

Reflecting on his coaching accomplishments around the world, the 52-year-old said he enjoyed coming back to China and was honored to have a chance to guide the Chinese women's squad. "This great team has a lot of good traditions, we just have to keep building on physical ability."

The Beijing native also shared several aspects of his approach to coaching. "I think there is no magic word to any sport," the World Cup winner said. "The hard work has to be done every single day. I think the hard part is keeping the athletes healthy, and also enjoying their hard work. I think that's the art of coaching."

Coach Qiao is also looking to help the women's squad earn medals for China. When asked what he want to be remembered for most as a coach, he answered he wanted his athletes to learn skills to sustain them through life. 

"I can educate our next generation to not only learn the skills of gymnastics or winning gold medals, but also skills for life."