Tian Jia (Left) and Wang Jie celebrate their first gold medal. [FIVB photo]

China's Tian Jia and Wang Jie captured their first international beach volleyball gold medal Saturday before a jam-packed Lake Woerthersee center court crowd of nearly 8, 000 fans in Klagenfurt, Austria.

The Chinese pair pushed away top seeds Juliana Felisberta Silva and Larissa Franca of Brazil 20-22, 21-16 and 15-11 in 56 minutes to become the second team from China to capture a SWATCH-FIVB World Tour gold medal this season.

En route to sharing the top spot on the podium for the 580,000-US dollar A1 Grand Slam and the 42,300-dollar first-place prize, the 25-year old Tian Jia and the 21-year old Wang Jie defeated reigning Olympic and World champions Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh of the United States Friday to qualify for the "final four" matches before downing the Brazilians, the top-ranked team on the 2006 SWATCH-FIVB World Tour.

"This is great," said Tian Jia, a two-time Chinese beach volleyball Olympian. "Of my three SWATCH gold medal wins, this is the best by far. Outside of winning an Olympic or World championship title, capturing a grand slam gold medal is special.

This is a great venue and I am glad to be a part of the ceremonies as member of the winning team."

(Source: Xinhua/CRIENGLISH.com)