Diving diva Guo Jingjing and hurdles hero Liu Xiang will lead a powerful China team at the East Asian Games in Macau next month, organisers announced yesterday.
The Athens Olympics golden duo are the major draws in a field of 1,920 athletes from nine countries and regions to contest the fourth East Asian Games from October 29 to November 6.
'I am very satisfied with the quality of the entry from all nine National Olympic Committees,' the chairman of the board of directors of the organising committee, Manuel Silverio, said. 'We have 62 medallists from previous Olympic Games, Asian Games, East Asian Games and World Championships, including Liu Xiang and Guo Jingjing, so we can look forward to some exciting sports action in Macau.
'For sure China will be the number one in the medal rankings at the end of the games, but Japan and South Korea can cause surprises; even North Korea, because they always have strong athletes.'
China will have the largest number of athletes with 399, followed by Japan (337), South Korea (305), Macau (253), Taiwan (246), Hong Kong (193), North Korea (94), Mongolia (80) and Guam (13).
Although North Korea took part in the inaugural East Asian Games, in Shanghai in 1993, they skipped the next two, in Pusan, South Korea, in 1997 and in Osaka, Japan, four years ago.
Silverio welcomed them back to the fold. 'I visited North Korea and talked to the sports minister and the president of the NOC, and they think Macau is a safe place for them. They weren't there in the last two East Asian Games, but they didn't want to lose this very good opportunity to join the East Asian family in Macau.'