KIEV, May 8 (Xinhua) -- A set of Ukrainian twins, both sophomores of the National Taras Shevchenko University, beat nine others in the preliminary Ukrainian round of the 7th "Chinese Bridge" language proficiency competition Thursday.

    The sisters, Vera and Natia, will go to China to attend the semi-final of the worldwide Chinese-language proficiency contest, which is designed for foreign college students, to be held in Junein Changsha, capital of China's Hunan Province.

    The theme of this year's event is "Olympic Excitement, Chinese Fun." Around 10 of the best Chinese-language learners from Ukrainian higher education institutes attended the contest at the University of Kiev.

    "More and more Ukrainians are starting to learn the Chinese language as the two countries are strengthening cooperation in various fields. I believe today's competition will provide them a chance to deeply understand China," Chinese Ambassador to Ukraine Zhou Li said before the competition.

    After three rounds of contests, featuring speech delivery, a talent show and a quiz, the sisters won their entry to the semi-final.

    The annual "Chinese Bridge" competition was initiated in 2002 with the aim of expanding exchanges and cooperation between China and the rest of the world.

    The Chinese language proficiency competition has become an important platform for college students around the world to learn the Chinese language and know more about the Asian country.

    Statistics show that more than 30 million people overseas are learning the Chinese language.