Sports
Team China rally before setting out for Rio Paralympics
CRI, August 30, 2016
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A rally takes place on August 29, 2016 at the Great Hall of the People ahead of Team China's departure for the Paralympic Games in Rio.
A rally has taken place at the Great Hall of the People ahead of Team China's departure for the Paralympic Games in Rio.
The Rio Paralympics Games are set to open in around a week's time.
308 athletes will make up China's Paralympic team, the largest China has ever sent overseas to a Paralympics.
In the past three summer Paralympic games, China has dominated the medal table.
As such, expectations were running high at the Great Hall of the People.
Vice Premier Liu Yandong says this year's squad of Chinese Paralympians should be striving for excellence.
"Heros cannot be judged by victory or defeat. Either as an individual athlete or a sports team, you should always do the best that you can, and show the high-level athletic ability of Chinese disabled people."
Swimming is one of the strong events for team China.
At the 2012 London Paralympics, the Chinese swimming team took home 24 titles.
Head coach Huang Yan says they have even higher goals this time.
"We have made very good preparations, and everything is running smoothly. I think the whole team is well-conditioned. We hope this time we can outperform the previous games and make new breakthroughs."
Among the Chinese athletes participating at the Rio Paralympics, 134 of them are first-time competitors at the Paralympics.
19 year old swimmer Zhang Li is among them.
"At this point I am just looking forward to taking part in the Games. In terms of results, I think my conditioning is good. Right now our coach is just trying to give us a lot of mental support. I really hope I can win gold medal at the Games."
In addition to swimming, track and field, table tennis, women's sitting volleyball and women's goal ball are also considered strong medal hopes for China at the Paralympics.
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