Chinese Rio Paralympics delegation founded

A press conference for the Chinese delegation to the 2016 Rio Paralympics was held at the China Disabled Persons’ Federation on August 3.

Wang Meimei, deputy head of the delegation, gave some basic information about it. Zhang Haidi, president of the China Disabled Persons’ Federation, is its head. The delegation has 499 members, including 308 athletes (161 male, 147 female), 177 coaches and other staff, and 14 assistants. The average age of the athletes is 26, the oldest being 52 and the youngest 14. They are all amateur athletes.

The delegation has four major features. The first is that it’s large, as is the number of sports events they will take part in. There are 308 athletes in the delegation, 26 more than that of the last Para Games. The delegation will compete in 17 big events and 328 small events, 2 and 40 more than that in the last Para Games respectively. This is the largest delegation China has ever sent to Paralympics in another country.

The second feature is that there are more fresh members and athletes with severe disabilities. First-time Paralympics athletes’ number 134, 44 percent of the total delegation, and 57 people have severe disabilities, 39 percent more than in the last delegation.

The third feature is that the delegation has advantages in basic events such as track and field events, swimming, and table tennis. The delegation will take part in 60-70 percent of the total events in the games.

The fourth feature is that this delegation is highly professional and has the highest education background in the history of Chinese Paralympics.

Wang also said that the Chinese delegation will try to be the winningest one in the Paralympics. Its 17 teams are preparing in different provinces across China.