BEIJING, Feb. 10 -- China have sent to Turin their biggest-ever winter Olympics team, with veteran speedskater Yang Yang shouldering the burden of medal hopes.

    

Chinese athletes practice at the Speed Skating venue for the Torino 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Turin, Italy, February 8, 2006. (Reuters)

Yang became China's first-ever Winter Olympic gold medallist after winning the 500m and 1,500m short track events at Salt Lake City in 2002.

    The 30-year-old then went into semi-retirement before reappearing to take gold in the 500m at the 2005 world championships.

    "I'm 100 per cent confident," she said. "I'm looking forward to all the experience that the Olympics give me."

    Yang faces stiff competition in Turin, however, with compatriot Wang Meng having the benefit of form and age. She is just 20 and won four medals at the 2005 world championships.

    But all is not well in the China camp. Pairs figure skaters Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo, bronze medallists at Salt Lake City, and gold winners at the 2002 and 2003 world championships, have serious injury worries on their minds.

    China have brought a record 76 athletes to participate in 47 events.

    Four years ago, the country finished 13th in the medal table with two gold, two silver and four bronze medals.

    Elsewhere in speed skating, 32-year-old Wang Manli is expected to challenge for a medal in the women's 500m following her 2004 world championship crown.

    Another big hope for China is Li Jiajun, a silver medalist at Salt Lake in the men's 1,500m short track speed skating.

    South Korea will be counting on the talents of its short track speed skaters to reverse a decade-long slide down the Olympic medal standings.

    They will be hoping that Turin will allow them to erase the bitter memories of Salt Lake City, where their short track hero Kim Dong-Sung finished first in the men's 1500 metres only to be disqualified.

    South Korean officials threatened a boycott over the decision by an Australian referee to strip Kim of the gold and hand it to Apolo Anton Ono of the United States.

    So in Turin, South Korea intends to go at least one gold medal better than four years ago and is counting on world No 1 short track speed skaters Ahn Hyun-Soo and Jin Sun-Yu to supply two of them.

    "Our goal in Turin is to win more than three, which will be enough for us to finish among the top 10," said Byun Tak, head of the 80-member South Korean squad.

    Ahn is top-ranked in the men's 1,500 metres while Jin swept four women's races at the World Cup in November.

    Other medal hopefuls include speed skater Lee Kang-Seok and ski jumper Kang Min-Hyock.

    Kang, 25, is tipped to provide the country's first medal in ski jumping.

    Japan's aim is more modest.

    They are aiming to win at least one gold medal but one of their best hopes has already been cast aside.

    Mao Asada, who turned 15 in September and is three months too young to be eligible for Turin, upstaged world No 1 Irina Slutskaya of Russia to win the women's title at the figure skating Grand Prix series final.

    But Japanese sports chiefs decided not to petition for her exemption from their self-imposed Olympic age limit, despite a howl of demands from home fans.

    Thus Japan pin their hope solely on male speed skater Joji Kato.

    Kato, 20, set the world record of 34.30 seconds in the 500m last November.

    "I think people think I am a gold medal favourite," Kato said here on Wednesday. "Setting the world record proved how good I am."

    Japanese ski-jumpers, who dominated the Nagano Games, remain as hopeless as they were at Salt Lake City because of a post-Nagano rule that limits the length of skis in favour of taller Europeans.

    (Source: China Daily)