Student contestants take part in the 2019 "Chinese Bridge" Regional Contest of Chinese Proficiency held in Olomouc, the Czech Republic, May 10, 2019. Mackova Viktoria and Kamensky Samuel, both middle school students from Slovakia, here on Friday won the first two places at the 2019 "Chinese Bridge" Regional Contest of Chinese Proficiency for the Czech Republic and Slovakia. They will represent the two countries to China to compete in the final world-wide contest later this year. (Xinhua/Confucius Institute at Palacky University)

OLOMUC, Czech Republic, May 10 (Xinhua) -- Mackova Viktoria and Kamensky Samuel, both middle school students from Slovakia, here on Friday won the first two places at the 2019 "Chinese Bridge" Regional Contest of Chinese Proficiency for the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

They will represent the two countries to China to compete in the final world-wide contest later this year.

Under the theme of "One World, One Family", nine contestants from middle schools and universities in the two countries demonstrated their Chinese language skills by making a free speech in Chinese, going through a Q&A and performing culture and talents show.

On the occasion, Zhao Changtao, official from Chinese Embassy in Czech Republic, said in the past years, more and more students in the two countries began to learn Chinese and love Chinese culture.

"Chinese Bridge is not only a bridge for visiting China but also a bridge of great opportunity for the future," he said, adding that he hopes there would be more and more bilingual talents in the two countries in the future.

The regional contest was co-organized by the Confucius Institute at Palacky University in Olomouc and the Chinese Embassy in the Czech Republic.