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Olympic Champs Lead Chinese Assault at Overall Title
Nine Olympic champions in five sports spearhead China's assault at their first ever overall title at the World University Games.
Host athletes are expected to reap gold in table tennis, gymnastics, diving, track and field and judo in the 12-event Games which runs from August 22 to September 1.
Wang Liqin, Liu Guozheng and Zhang Yining are strong enough to wrap up China's seven-title sweep in table tennis.
World number one Wang Liqin is Sydney Olympic gold medalist in men's doubles and reigning world singles champion. Liu Guozheng was the key man behind China's triumph in the world men's team championship earlier this year.
Li Xiaopeng, Xing Aowei, Yang Wei and Zheng Lihui, Olympic champions in the men's team gymnastics, will show their prowess in individual and team events.
China expects little challenge in diving as it boasts Olympic champions Tian Liang and Guo Jingjing.
Wang Liping, Olympic champion in the women's 20km race walk, is believed to save some face for Chinese athletics after the country's disastrous performance in the World Athletics Championships that ended last week in Edmonton, Canada.
Chinese athletes returned from Edmonton without a single medal, with the best result coming from Dong Yanmei, shut out of the podium over the final meters to finish fourth in the women's 5,000 meters.
Chinese men basketballers Wang Zhizhi, Yao Ming and Menk Bateer, the trio lauded as "Moving Great Wall", will certainly catch attention in the Games.
The other Chinese stars to watch are Olympic women's judo champion Yuan Hua, Olympic men's fencing silver medalists Dong Zhaozhi and Wang Haibin, Olympic women's gymnastics bronze medalists Wang Mandan, Dong Fangxiao and Ling Jie.
Li Furong, head of the 390-member Chinese delegation, predicted China will finish first overall.
"China's best record in the Universiade was second place in 1993," he said. "This time we are confident to be first."
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