Competitors pass the finish line at a sampan competition at the Second Naval Military Triathlon and Naval English Competition in Qingdao, East China's Shandong province, on Saturday. Wang Songqi / for China Daily

Qu Tianxiao, a freshman at the Dalian Naval Academy, is closer to his dream of commanding a Chinese warship and paying a friendly visit to his counterparts in other countries, after some winning performances in swimming and sailing competitions.

The competitions were part of the Second Naval Military Triathlon and Naval English Competition, which concluded on Sunday in Qingdao of East China's Shandong province.

Qu was among the 80-plus excellent students selected from three leading Chinese naval academies and universities to take part in the competition held by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy Headquarters.

"It has always been my dream to devote myself to a stronger Chinese navy and take part in an international mission, either for a convoy in Somalian waters or a friendly visit to neighboring Russia," said the 20-year-old shy but ambitious freshman.

Early this year, Qu and his classmates took part in a swimming competition with naval students from 12 countries, and they came in at fourth place.

In the past three days, student competitors from the Naval Aeronautical Engineering Institute (NAEI) based in Yantai of Shandong, the Dalian Naval Academy based in Northeast China's Liaoning province, and the Naval University of Engineering based in Wuhan of Central China's Hubei province, competed in 1,000-meter swimming, 13-member sampan, flying-tiger sailing and naval English competitions.

Students, mainly sophomores and juniors, from the NAEI were group champions in the swimming and sampan events, and the other two academies came first in sailing (Dalian Naval Academy) and English competition (Naval University of Engineering).