The team including 33 Olympic champions, China expects its 897 athletes to extend their dominance at the forthcoming Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea. “Our aim is to try to lead in both the gold medal tally and overall medal table,” deputy chef de mission Xiao Tian is quoted as saying by the Xinhua state news agency. The 1,328-member delegation is the largest ever China sent to an overseas Asiad. 288 of the 897 athletes have Olympic and Asian Games experience, according to Xiao, with 68 percent of the athletes making their debuts in Incheon. The athletes average age is 23, says Xiao.
China is expected to top the Asian Games nations’ rankings for the eighth straight time since 1982. Chef de mission Liu Peng noted that China also needs to achieve a breakthrough in football, basketball and volleyball. “We have no advantage in these events in Asia,” he said. “At the Incheon Asian Games, we will meet lots of difficulties and pressure. Every member of the ‘three big ball games’ teams should have an enormous sense of mission and responsibility and deliver their best performance for Chinese fans.”
This article was republished with permission from the editor and publisher of the Sport Intern, Karl-Heinz Huba.