Xinhua reported that China expects to take gold in table tennis, badminton, gymnastics, weightlifting, shooting and diving. These sports have contributed almost three-quarters of China’s gold medals since the Los Angeles Games in 1984.

The US is once again looking to assert its dominance over world sport on the biggest stage of all. Securing a big triumph over China, in the overall medal count, is a must.

These are events in which China and US could feasibly tussle it out for podium places.

Gymnastics

Diving

One of China’s guaranteed strong suits, they will be looking to dominate the diving pool for an eighth successive Games. Only once since 1984, when China began to send a diving team to the Games, has China not finished top of the diving medal table – when the US beat them to top spot in Los Angeles in 1984. Since then, the US has trailed China on three occasions. In Rio, the US finished third behind China and Great Britain. Their 11-strong squad for Tokyo will be hoping to at least bloody the nose of Team China, who took seven of the eight gold medals five years ago.

Seventeen-year-old American Tyler Downs is one to watch in the men’s three-metre springboard, and Michael Hixon was a silver medallist in the same discipline five years ago.

China’s roster is a Who’s Who of supreme diving talent with Chen Aisen, Shi Tingmao and teenaged duo Zhang Jiaqi and Chen Yuxi expected to sparkle.

Track cycling

There’s potential for a flashpoint at the velodrome with China’s Liu Jiali and American Jennifer Valente meeting in the women’s omnium event. A high-speed tussle around the cycling track could be a thriller. Valente is an Olympic silver medallist in the team pursuit at the Rio Games. Liu is a former Asian Championship bronze medallist in the Madison, and is in Japan as part of a small but scrappy Chinese squad who will be seeking to score points against the traditional track powerhouses like the US.

Rugby sevens

China and the US have been grouped together in the opening round of the women’s rugby sevens and will lock horns on the first day of group action on Thursday, July 29. China will be making their debut at the Olympics (though, it is only the second outing for the sport at the Games) after qualifying via the 2019 Asian Qualifying Tournament. The US are making their second appearance after a credible fifth-place finish in Rio. The US are ranked sixth in the world, whereas China are ranked 23rd (five places behind Hong Kong, who aren’t competing in Tokyo).

Football

If they manage to emerge from their opening round of group matches, in which both sides took heavy defeats, the US and China could be on a collision course for the semi-finals (assuming they each qualify as runners-up after their faltering starts). USA, the world champions and top Fifa-ranked team, would be heavy favourites against 15th-ranked China, who squeaked into the Olympics in April. The two last met in a friendly double-header in 2018 when the US claimed two narrow wins. The last time the two met competitively was at the 2015 Fifa World Cup when the US eliminated the Steel Roses in the quarter-finals on their way to the championship.

Swimming

China’s Zhang Yufei swam the second-fastest 100-metre butterfly time in history last year in 55.62 seconds and the fastest time this year, with 55.73 in trials. Also, this year US teenager Torri Huske set a new national record as she became the third-fastest woman of all time in 55.78.

The pair will go head-to-head for gold in Tokyo, though Swedish veteran Sarah Sjostrom, the fastest woman in history, is the one both will need to beat. However, with Sjostrom recovering from surgery, there is a strong chance for either to stand at the top of the podium. Given that Huske’s mother is Chinese, there will be something for the Chinese media to celebrate even if she finishes above Zhang.

Wang Jianjiahe is expected to challenge Katie Ledecky in the 800m and 1,500m free but the Chinese swimmer will need to raise her game from the 2019 worlds where she only left with a 1,500m bronze. Ledecky is the clear favourite and world record-holder in both distances.

Elsewhere in the pool, China’s Rio 2016 silver medallist in the men’s 100m backstroke, Xi Jiayu, is the fourth fastest in the world this year, just behind the USA’s Ryan Murphy, who took gold at the 2016 Games.

Another of China’s men’s medallists from Rio, 200m individual medley swimmer Wang Shun, is also pushing for the podium. Wang has the third-fastest time of the year, a second back from Michael Andrews of the USA.

Boxing

China’s Gu Hong fights in the new 64-69kg welterweight class where US fighter Oshae Lanae Jones is expected to stand in her way for a gold medal. Similarly, in the women’s 75kg China’s Li Qian’s medal hopes will be tested by Naomi Graham of the USA, the serving soldier who is seen as Claressa Shields’ middleweight successor.

The women’s flyweight could see China’s Yuan Chang take on Virginia Fuchs, of the US, with the Houston fighter making it clear she is aiming for gold.

Yuan could be the one to halt Fuchs’ quest “to get my most important gold in my treasure chest”. This is the Chinese fighter’s first Games after travelling to Rio as a team sparring partner after winning gold at the Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing in 2014 and again at the Asian Games in 2018.

Volleyball