Asian Games 2018: volleyball star Zhu Ting and swim sensation Sun Yang favourites to carry flag for China at opening ceremony
Reports in the mainland tipped the two Rio Olympic champions as favourites to be given the honour
Reports in the mainland tipped the two Rio Olympic champions, who both stand at around two metres in height, as favourites to be given the honour due to their impressive track records as China is poised to dominate the two-week long multi-sport games being held in Jakarta and Palembang.
Fencer Lei Sheng, the 2012 Olympic Games foil individual champion, was chosen as flag bearer for the Incheon Games two years later while at the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games, 2008 Olympic rowing champion Jin Ziwei performed the role for the hosts nation.
Zhu led the Chinese women to reclaim the champion since they last won it at the 2004 Athens Games and later became the world’s highest paid player with a reported annual salary of HK$12 million with her Turkish club Vakıfbank Istanbul. Zhu, 23, is among 19 Chinese Olympic champions that will compete in Indonesia, a list that also includes Sun.
Sun, 26, became the first Chinese male swimmer to win an Olympic gold medal when he clinched a double (400 metre and 1,500-metre freestyle) at the 2012 London Games, which was followed another gold (200-metre freestyle) at the 2016 Rio Olympics.