WANG HAO
Expect the Chinese to dominate the table tennis. Since the event became an Olympic sport in 1988, China has taken 16 out of the 20 medals on offer, failing to win gold only in the women’s doubles. Wang lost in the final of the men’s singles in Athens in 2004 to Korean Ryu Seung Min, but is now ranked No 1 in the world and won the Asian Games title in Doha two years ago. He will, however, face stiff opposition from compatriots Ma Lin and Wang Liqin

YAO MING
Arguably China’s most famous sportsman and easily the best paid, the 7ft 6in basketball star will be one of the faces of the Games, having built up an international reputation with the Houston Rockets in the NBA. Seeing him on the medal podium, though, would represent an incredible achievement. China are drawn in the same basketball group as the USA and world champions Spain, and Yao has only just come back from injury. Still, Michael Jordan seemed to carry the Chicago Bulls to NBA finals virtually on his own for several years

WU PENG
China’s leading male swimmer, the 21-year-old claimed silver in the 200m butterfly at last year’s world championships in Melbourne - the first time the country had won a medal at the championships. However, it will take an exceptional performance to make the step up to gold, given that one of his opponents is likely to be Michael Phelps. Wu came sixth when Phelps won the event at the Athens Olympics in 2004. ‘I really wish to beat him in a race once,’ he says, ‘no matter if it is in the final or the semi-finals.’ There are finally grounds for hope, as Wu has turned in a series of impressive times since reuniting with his old coach Zhu Zhigen

QI HUI
As a 15-year-old, Qi was considered China’s best medal hope in the pool at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, but finished a disappointing fourth in the 200m breaststroke. The disappointment continued in Athens when she came sixth in the same event and was disqualified from the 100m race for an illegal underwater kick. After failure at the 2007 world championships, she was back on form in the Good Luck Beijing Games and attributes the turnaround in her fortunes to her spell with the navy: ‘Before I joined the navy, coaches of other local teams and the army team had no faith in my future.’ With the retirement of the 2004 100m breaststroke Olympic champion Luo Xuejuan, Qi, who won the 200m, 400m individual medley and 200m breaststroke titles at the 2006 short-course world championships, is the main women’s hope

DU LI
China has been strong in shooting since Sydney in 2000, where the team won three golds, two silvers and three bronze. Dubbed the Maria Sharapova of the rifle range, Du, the defending Olympic champion, world record-holder and favourite again in this year’s 10m rifle competition, will compete on the opening day of the Games and therefore has the chance to land her country’s first gold medal. ‘Of course I am under great pressure, but I am really enjoying it because only a few athletes can have the opportunity to win the first gold medal,’ she says. ‘I know there will be millions of people watching my shooting on television. It is a once-in-a-lifetime chance for me.’ Her boyfriend Zhang Fu is also a shooter and a member of the national squad, who won gold in the men’s 50m rifle at the Doha Asian Games