Within a year, beach volleyball player Tian Jia has lifted herself to the top of the world rankings with new partner Wang Jie.

Now they have a bigger ambition - gold medaling at the 2008 Beijing Games.

Tian, 26, and Wang, 24, first teamed up last May. A series of whirlwind victories in the 2006 World Tour then saw them catapult to World No 1.

"Although she is younger than me, she is always calm during competitions and she helps me relax," she said. "I just trust her."

The pair's first international competition, the Italian Open in May 2006, ended with a surprise bronze medal.

More success followed as they improved to second place in the Shanghai Open, losing out to younger teammates Xue Chen and Zhang Xi in the all-Chinese final.

Three months later they reached their pinnacle, winning back-to-back titles in Klagenfurt, Austria, and Warsaw, Poland.

The year-ending event in Phuket, Thailand, was a replay of the Shanghai Open final, with Xue and Zhang managing to avenge their earlier loss to their compatriots.

Tian, a two-time Olympian, seems to have made the right decision to continue her career and gun for greater glory at the Beijing Games.

A former indoor volleyball player with the Tianjin provincial team, she finished outside the last eight in her previous two Olympics with different partners.

She then had to endure watching from the sidelines as her former provincial teammates won the volleyball gold medal in Athens.

Then, on the verge of retiring, she was introduced to Wang by her coach. Wang was also at a crossroads after failing to make it to Athens. The pair have already taken pole position in terms of qualifying for the Beijing Games by winning the season-opening Shanghai Open and finishing second at the Singapore Open last week.

"I hope to win a medal at the Beijing Games. I don't want to have any regrets," Tian said.

They are now in South Korea for the Seoul Open, the third leg of the Olympic qualifiers.

The 2008 Summer Games Beach Volleyball competition will feature 24 teams of each sex. A team's best eight finishes from FIVB World Tour events and FIVB-recognized Continental Championship Finals will be taken into counted.