Ma Long is tipped to win medals for host China during the Hangzhou Asian Games which open on Saturday. Xinhua / Reuters / Wei Xiaohao / China Daily
With the Asiad seen as a major step on the road to Paris 2024, Team China is looking to measure itself against some of its biggest Olympic medal rivals
With Paris 2024 fast approaching, Chinese athletes have embraced the home Asiad in Hangzhou as a much-needed test for the Olympic challenge, offering world-class drills against close neighbors in a variety of sports.
Featuring a blend of youth and experience, the 1,329-member Chinese delegation to the 19th Asian Games, which open on Saturday, has vowed to do the host country proud at the continental multisport gala by delivering excellent performances, both on and off the field.
Zhu Yaming is tipped to win medals for host China during the Hangzhou Asian Games which open on Saturday. Xinhua / Reuters / Wei Xiaohao / China Daily
Spearheaded by 36 Olympic champions, a total of 886 Chinese athletes will compete across 407 medal events of the total 481 to be contested in Hangzhou and the five co-host cities in Zhejiang. Crucially, 74 Olympic qualification berths for next year's Paris Games are up for grabs in nine sports, including artistic swimming, breaking, tennis and water polo.
Having topped the Asian Games medal table 10 times in a row since the 1982 edition in India, the Chinese delegation is set to go all out to extend its dominance on home soil, while using the quadrennial event to facilitate its preparations for Paris 2024.
Zhang Boheng is tipped to win medals for host China during the Hangzhou Asian Games which open on Saturday. Xinhua / Reuters / Wei Xiaohao / China Daily
"We hope to deliver the best possible performances in front of our fans, and to do so in a clean and honest way with zero tolerance for doping," Gao Zhidan, director of the General Administration of Sport, said last week in Beijing.
"Not only are we trying to finish on top of the overall medal table again, we will also approach the Asian Games as a major test, ahead of the Paris Olympics, to gain international experience and assess our performances against Olympic standards.
"We are also looking forward to promoting the Olympic values and the positive image of China's sports community," Gao said.
Chen Yufei is all tipped to win medals for host China during the Hangzhou Asian Games which open on Saturday. Xinhua / Reuters / Wei Xiaohao / China Daily
As a sports powerhouse in Asia, China is especially aiming to excel in six sports in which it traditionally enjoys success — table tennis, diving, weightlifting, shooting, gymnastics and badminton.
However, Team China is braced for tough competition from neighbors such as Japan, Republic of Korea and India.
Veteran gymnast Zou Jingyuan, the reigning men's Olympic and world champion on the parallel bars, said the competition at the Asian Games, particularly against archrival Japan, is a valuable rehearsal for Paris 2024.
"China and Japan have developed a strong rivalry in gymnastics, especially on the men's side, over the years. I hope both teams will perform to the highest possible standards to make it a real treat for the audience," said Zou, a member of China's gold medal-winning squad at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta.
Gong Lijiao is tipped to win medals for host China during the Hangzhou Asian Games which open on Saturday. Xinhua / Reuters / Wei Xiaohao / China Daily
"The gymnastics contest at the Asian Games already represents the highest level in the world, so we are approaching it as a serious opportunity to perfect our routines for next year's Olympics," he added.
The results from the 2022 world championships in Liverpool last November bode well for China, with the squad collecting three gold and two silver medals to finish second in the medal table, behind the US but ahead of Japan (two gold, three silver and three bronze).
Intriguing matchups also await China in table tennis, where a surging Japanese side, led by teenage phenomenon Tomokazu Harimoto, is expected to challenge China's dominance, and badminton, which has seen Korean shuttlers overtake Chinese stars on the world stage. At last month's badminton world championships, the ROK flexed its muscles with a hat-trick of titles — women's singles, men's doubles and mixed doubles.
"The Asian Games will provide a thorough test of our preparations for Paris 2024, so that we can make timely adjustments to our tactics, talent selection and frontline management," said Zhang Xin, secretary-general of China's Asian Games delegation.
The performance of China's collective "big-ball" teams will also be considered a defining measure of the host delegation's success in Hangzhou, especially after a series of recent setbacks in men's basketball and football on the world stage, Gao asserted.
Wu Yanni is tipped to win medals for host China during the Hangzhou Asian Games which open on Saturday. Xinhua / Reuters / Wei Xiaohao / China Daily
"If we cannot deliver decent results in the highly popular team ball sports, including basketball, football and volleyball, the Asian Games will probably not be viewed as a success, even if we win tons of medals," he added.
Outpaced and overpowered by international heavyweights, the Chinese men's basketball team finished 29th — its worst ever ranking — at the FIBA World Cup in Manila earlier this month, thereby failing to qualify for the Paris Olympics.
Led by coach Aleksandar Djordjevic, who retained his position despite the World Cup disappointment, Team China's hoopsters will bid to restore some pride when they defend their Asian Games gold on their home court.
The country's long underachieving men's football team are also in desperate need of a morale-boosting campaign in Hangzhou. The squad triggered yet more criticism for a sloppy performance in a 1-1 international friendly draw against Malaysia on Saturday. The result against the Asian minnow cast a huge shadow over China's prospects in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, which will kick off in November.
