Teenagers from China play a unique role in the ongoing soccer World Cup in Russia

On June 11, six teenagers from Danzhai county, a Miao and Dong autonomous prefecture in China's Southwest Guizhou province, left the mountains for Russia. They were chosen to be flag guards escorting the FIFA flag into the Luzhniki Stadium at the opening game of the World Cup in Moscow on June 14. This is also the first time in 90 years that the World Cup has Chinese flag guards.

Vice-Premier Sun Chunlan met the six children in Moscow before the game.

The six guards were Yang Changsheng and Jiang Xiao from Danzhai county's No 3 Middle School; Zhou Lulu and Wang Bangjian from Danzhai Vocational and Technical School; Mo Qiu from No 2 Middle School and Wang Meilun from Guiyang High School affiliated to Beijing Normal University. They were selected from nearly 4,000 students in the "2018 Russia World Cup Danzhai Flag Guard Contest" held in April.

To get to the Luzhniki Stadium, the teenagers traveled from Danzhai to Guiyang, then from Guiyang to Beijing, and from Beijing to Moscow, flying more than 6,000 kilometers.

Photos By Xinhua