China Losing Ground in Traditional Strong Events, Official

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, October 14, 2002

China Losing Ground in Traditional Strong Events, Official

China faces a difficult prospect in the 2004 Olympic Games although it has topped the Asian Games medal race with 149 gold medals, a top Chinese sports official warned early Monday morning.

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China faces a difficult prospect in the 2004 Olympic Games although it has topped the Asian Games medal race with 149 gold medals, a top Chinese sports official warned early Monday morning.

"I don't care much about how many gold medals Chinese have won in this games," said Li Furong, deputy chef de mission of the Chinese delegation. "What I am interested in is the quality of these gold medals."

"Besides Chinese traditional strong sports, only eight events from five sports have reached world standards. That means we will have a difficult time in 2004," he added.

These sports are fencing, cycling, taekwondo, women's wrestling and swimming, in which China has gold medal hopefuls for the 2004 Olympics, according to Li.

Li, also China's deputy sports minister, warned China was losing ground in table tennis and women's weightlifting.

China, who had swept all the table tennis golds in the past two Olympic Games, lost women's team, men's and women's doubles and mixed doubles titles in Busan.

"The loss of women's team crown is a shock," Li said. "We had kept this event for 10 years."

In women's weightlifting, China isn't as dominant as before, according to Li.

"In seven women's events, we have no overwhelming superiority now," Li said. "Chinese won the 48kg division because of lighter weight and DPR Korea took away the 53kg class."

Li noted eight Chinese taekwondo athletes were empty-handed in Busan.

"Wang Shuo is world champion and Chen Zhong is Olympic and world champion, but they failed to lift a gold medal here," Li said.

The vice minister said China would have little chance in such gold-rich events like athletics, swimming, rowing, canoeing and yachting in the 2004 Olympics.

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