Team China sets sights on golden glory

Nation's best athletes focused on adding to podium haul in Jakarta

Flagbearer and taekwondo Olympic gold medalist Zhao Shuai proudly led Team China into Jakarta's Gelora Bung Karno Main Stadium for Saturday's opening ceremony of the Asian Games.

Chinese athletes have demonstrated their dominance at this event for decades, and lead the all-time Asian Games medal standings with 2,898 - including 1,341 golds.

That number is expected to grow in Jakarta, where Team China's 845 athletes include 19 Olympic champions. They will compete in 376 disciplines and 38 of the 40 sports at the 18th Asiad.

The only two events in which China won't compete are weightlifting and kabaddi, a contact team sport originating from India.

The Chinese delegation also includes 38 foreign coaches from 15 countries.

Swimmer Sun Yang is the face of Team China, and the three-time Olympic freestyle champion is determined to bring home more gold.

"I've fully prepared for the Games after intensive training in Hong Kong, where I improved my aerobic endurance for the long-distance events," said Sun, who will compete in all four individual freestyle events, from 200m to 1500m.

The 800m free has been added to the Asiad for the first time. That means Sun, who swept all three individual disciplines from 200 to 1500 at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, potentially faces four finals over the course of six days - an unprecedented endurance test at this level.

"I will be busier than ever and it takes a heavy toll on my body," said the 27-year-old, whose training is overseen by renowned distance coach Denis Cotterell of Australia and longtime mentor Zhu Zhigen.

"My ability in the distance events has improved to near my prime form. I just need to build on the momentum in real competition."

Away from the pool, China will focus on traditional strong suits like table tennis, gymnastics and badminton - bolstered by a young roster aiming to impress ahead of the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.

"The Asian Games represent a midterm exam for us in our preparation for the Tokyo Olympics," Chinese delegation general secretary Liu Guoyong said on Saturday.

"One of our aims at this competition is to hone our young athletes and prepare them to get good results in Tokyo."

Nearly 75 percent of Chinese athletes here (631 of 845) are making their international debut, mirroring the sports governing body's call to embrace the continental meet as a high-exposure test for young talent on the road to Tokyo 2020.

China's youngest athlete at these Games is 13-year-old swimmer Wang Yichun.

On the table tennis squad, multiple Olympic and world champions Ma Long, Xu Xin and Ding Ning were all conspicuously absent from the list when the Chinese squad was named.

None of the 10-strong roster of paddlers has played at an Olympics, and only three have previous Asian Games experience. China's charge will be led by 21-year-old Fan Zhendong and 23-year-old women's star Zhu Yuling.

"All five of our female players here are qualified enough and boast great skills," said women's head coach Li Sun.

"The Asiad is also a test for our young players to see if they can handle the pressure without the help of top players like Ding Ning."

Eyeing breakthroughs

China is also aiming for breakthroughs in soccer, basketball and athletics, with new stars poised to test themselves against some of the world's best.

The men's under-23 soccer team brought back the best news after the team beat East Timor 6-0 and Syria 3-0 in the first and second round of the Asian Games tournament to secure advancement.

The result was a long-awaited victory after China's bold reform of its under-23 player development policy.

In 2017, the Chinese Football Association unveiled two new policies designed to boost development of homegrown talent - adjusting the appearance policy for players under the age of 23 in the Chinese Super League (CSL) and China League One, and limiting the number of high-priced foreign players.

Based on the team's early performance here, those reforms have paid off.

"It's been a long time for me to have such great feelings, and I am very happy to have them back," said Zhang Yuning, the only Chinese male player currently playing in Europe who this summer moved on loan to Dutch topflight team ADO Den Haag from England's West Bromwich Albion.

"After the first two games, I'm a little bit tired. I just want to play good soccer and try not to think too much about the result.

"I hope I can go much further at these Asian Games."

The basketball team under the reform of CBA chairman and eight-time NBA All-Star Yao Ming, the women's volleyball squad spearheaded by global superstar Zhu Ting and coached by the legendary Lang Ping, and an athletics squad that boasts sprint megastar Su Bingtian and world champion shot putter Gong Lijiao have all shown to be capable of providing China with more breakthroughs at these Games, which run until Sept 2.

Another highlight is e-sports, which has been added to the competition for the first time.

China has three teams competing in League of Legends, Clash Royale and Arena of Valor, an international version of Tencent's homegrown hit King of Glory.

Featuring the country's best gamers, like LOL wizard Jian Zhao - aka Uzi - the three squads are focused on notching historic victories - and hoping e-sports will soon be added to the Olympics.