BEIJING, March 3 (Xinhua) -- China's short track speed skating team departed from Beijing to Sofia, Bulgaria for the world championships on Sunday morning. Team head coach Li Yan released the roster, which includes Olympic gold medalist Wu Dajing and world champion Fan Kexin.

The world championships will be held from March 8 to 10 in Sofia, and Li's roster was not revealed until the last training session on the day before departure. The athletes are mainly veterans, most of which have the experience of participating in the world championships.

The men's team is composed of Wu Dajing, Ren Ziwei, Xu Hongzhi, Sun Long and Yang Shuai. The first three have been on the rink of PyeongChang Games. The other two were newcomers to the national team after 2018 Winter Olympics and won gold medals several times in domestic league this season.

The female skaters are Fan Kexin, Li Jinyu, Qu Chunyu and Zang Yize. All of them are leading skaters and participated in PyeongChang Games except for Zang Yize because of injury.

"The opportunity is for those who are prepared," said li Yan. She hopes that everyone can take the chance and release all their energy in the match.

As for those off the list, Li encourages them not to give up. "This is only the first step to the 2022 Winter Olympics. He who laughs last, laughs best. Everyone should be confident, concentrated and persistent. Our team needs to work together for making breakthroughs in 2022."

At the 2018 Montreal World Championships, the Chinese team ranked third in the medal list with one silver and three bronzes without Wu Dajing.