Despite the traditional advantages in certain categories, the Chinese taekwondo team is reluctant to talk about the gold expectation at the 24th Universiade.
"We will fight for the medals," said Li Yanling, the head of the team, here on Tuesday.
As usual, the gold expectation for China in taekwondo competitions mainly relies on the women players' performance.
China has dispatched six male and six female taekwondo players to participate in the Universiade.
A total of 16 taekwondo gold medals are up for grab at the Bangkok Universiade. But Chinese players will miss four of them in women's 51kg, 72kg, and men's 54kg and over 84kg categories.
China's Wu Jingyu, the women's 47kg champion in both 2006 Doha Asiad and the 2007 world championships in Beijing, won't show up in Bangkok because of preparation for the 2008 Olympics.
Wu's absence will give greater opportunity to Thai elite Yaowapa Boorapolchai, who beat Wu twice in two finals at the Asian Championships and the World Cup Team meets but was beaten by Wu at the 2007 worlds.
Chinese Taipei's Yang Shu-chun, who got a silver medal in Doha Asiad after losing the final to Wu Jingyu, is also a title chaser in this category.
China's national champion Li Dan is another strong woman in the flyweight, who can not be look down upon.
Li Yanling said Chinese women players might get medals in the 55kg and over 72kg categories, besides the 47kg division.
"It depends on their performance during the competition," he said, adding that the Chinese delegation still has no information of their main rivals, including South Korea, Iran, Russia, Turkey and Chinese Taipei.
Anyway, "all the players will do their best to fight for the country," Li said.
Source: Xinhua
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