Soldiers from around the world have gathered in China's Fujian province for the 2018 International Army Games. The friendly contest of speed and skill pits contestants against each other in battlefield simulations and obstacle courses. Monday saw Marine corps teams from five countries navigate obstacles and tomorrow marks the first day of races for the Sea-bound assault phase of the Games. CGTN's Wu Lei was at the competition.

A competition of speed, skill and endurance. 5 countries: Iran, Russia, Sudan, Venezuela and China have sent 13 marine corps teams to compete with one another on an obstacle course 1.2 kilometers long.

CAPTAIN BASIL RUSSIAN MARINE CORPS "It's a fiercely competitive race, and it demands a lot of physical energy. The participating players are all striving for the best results. The Chinese players are very skilled and fast, and show amazing power and physical strength, but we are not too bad."

Each participant needs to finish all 19 obstacles, which include running, climbing, jumping, crawling, and balancing.

LIEUTENANT ALVAREZ DUNO VENEZUELAN MARINE CORPS "I feel like our team did very well this morning. We faced some difficulties, but worked around them. I think all-in-all it was all well done. All the teams acted very well."

The team who finishes the race in the shortest time wins. And after Monday's seven rounds of competition, the top three teams are all from the Chinese Marines.

XU XIAOFEI CHINESE MARINE CORPS "We felt a lot of pressure as the first group to run, but after finishing the whole process, each of our members did a good job, without any major mistakes."

Hundreds of other soldiers and visitors came out to cheer them on.

XIE YIWEN, SOLDIER CHINESE MARINE CORPS "Watching these games is great! We learn from other armies' racing skills and strategies."

In the next few days, these marine corps groups will compete in other races including a survival trail and relay events.

WU LEI QUANZHOU, FUJIAN "One of the major highlights of this year's army games is focusing more on realistic battles which feature many obstacles. So this obstacle race aims to improve soldiers' physical training, teamwork-building and problem-solving skills in limited time. WL, CGTN, FJ PROVINCE."