JERUSALEM, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- Just a few weeks after the Team Israel returned home with a bronze medal at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, another Israeli team of Olympians have made their way to China with medals on their minds.
Starting September 6 with the opening ceremonies, Israel's 34-member Paralympic team will compete for two weeks in the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, said local daily Jerusalem Post.
Israel's Paralympic team will compete in swimming, shooting, table tennis, rowing, tennis, archery, basketball, equestrian, track and field, sailing and cycling.
Since the first summer Paralympics were held in Rome in 1960, Israel has had great success at the Games and this year the team ishoping to add to the long list of Paralympic accomplishments.
Nearly all of the medal winners from the 2004 Athens Paralympics will be returning to competition in Beijing aiming to reclaim their titles.
According to Jerusalem Post, over the past 48 years, Israel has gathered almost 300 medals: 87 golds, 96 silvers and 91 bronzes.
On Tuesday, Dani Ben Abu, Chairman of Israeli Paralympic Committee, expressed his hope in an interview with Xinhua that the Israeli athletes could do their best to make the Israeli flag hoisted frequently to the rhythm of Hatikva (Israeli national anthem) in Beijing.
However, he stressed that the spirit of participation is more important than competition.
"I do expect we can get two or three gold medals in swimming or shooting, but it doesn't matter if we failed to achieve the goal," said Ben Abu, adding that "what really matters is the tremendous efforts our disabled athletes have made in sports as well as in their daily life."
The chairman also believed that the upcoming Beijing Paralympics will be as great as Beijing Olympics.
"The Chinese government did an excellent organization work during the Olympic Games and Chinese people were so friendly to guests from all around the world, I believe that China will do its best in the Paralympics as well," said Ben Abu.
