BEIJING — As China sends its largest delegation of 777 members to an overseas Olympic Games, Liu Guoyong, secretary-general of the Chinese delegation, has urged the athletes to strive to achieve the best possible results in Tokyo.

"The aim of the Chinese delegation is to remain competitive in the gold medal tally. The total number of golds of the Chinese delegation in each Olympics has declined since 2008, and we want to stop this trend in Tokyo," said Liu, who is also vice president of the Chinese Olympic Committee.

While China expects a haul of gold medals from its traditionally strong sports such as table tennis, badminton, gymnastics, weightlifting, shooting and diving, Chinese athletes are also eyeing success in sports making their Olympic debut in Tokyo, such as skateboarding and sport climbing.

"We have medal contenders in some other sports such as rowing, especially the women's four and women's eight," Liu added. "We have also seen great progress in ball sports like women's football, women's hockey, and women's water polo."

"We also need to ensure zero COVID-19 infections in our delegation during the whole Olympics, and we will follow all the rules required by the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee," Liu added.