(L-R) CP Quek, Lu Jiang and Gao Min

The "Olympic gala of the logistics industry" has been launched at the Beijing National Olympic Sports Centre.

Participants from logistics, auto manufacturing and other industries will test their forklift operation skills against each other in teams of three at the Linde Cup China tour.

Linde Cup, organised by the China Federation of Logistics & Purchasing (CFLP) and Linde (China) Forklift Truck Corp Ltd (Linde China), will be held in Beijing, Shanghai, Suzhou, Xiamen, Guangzhou and other Chinese cities over the next four months.

After two qualifying rounds, the finalists will compete in a final competition on August 8.

Gao Min, a Chinese diver who won gold medals in springboard events at the 1988 and 1992 Olympics games, surprised Linde Cup opening ceremony attendees when she made her entrance on a Linde forklift.

Gao, CFLP chairman Lu Jiang and Linde China CEO CP Quek officially opened the Linde Cup by igniting the "Linde Cup torch" with the touch of a button.

Quek, in his speech, used Beijing, host city of the 2008 Olympics, as leverage to market the forklift driving competition.

"We hope that, through this event, we can call on the attention of logistics enterprises to 2008 Olympic Games and advocate the Olympic spirit of "higher, faster, stronger" in the logistics industry:

"Higher logistics efficiency, faster development of the logistics industry, stronger logistics enterprises.

"Of course we also hope it can improve forklift operators' skills and work efficiency and reduce logistics costs for our users," Guo said.

The top three teams in the Linde Cup will receive 2008 Olympics tickets and other prizes.

Representatives from the China Industrial Truck Association, the China Material & Storage Transportation Association, the China Association of Warehouses, and Chinese media were at the ceremony.