Top Chinese table tennis official Cai Zhenhua (R2) waves his hand as he, together with other officials of the Chinese sports delegation to the 15th Asian Games, walk into the Athletes' Village in Doha, capital of Qatar, Tuesday, November 28, 2006. [Xinhua]

The Chinese sports delegation arrived here Tuesday afternoon for the Doha Asian Games in hopes of topping the medal table for the seventh consecutive time.

"The Asian Games are one of the biggest sports event in the world and we are sending a large scale delegation to participate in the Games," said Liu Peng, chef de mission of the delegation and president of the State General Administration of Sports.

China, who has dominated top position at the quadrennial tournament for six times in a row since the 1982 version of the Asian Games in New Delhi, India, is sending 647 athletes to compete in 37 out of 39 events in the 15-day tournament starting on December 1 in Doha.

"The Chinese delegation will strive to top the medals table for the seventh time running," said Duan Shijie, deputy chef de mission of the Chinese Sports Delegation and vice president of the State General Administration of Sports.

Arriving on Tuesday were 241 members of the Chinese delegation, including the headquarters and 12 teams, namely the men's basketball, women's volleyball, beach volleyball and judo, weightlifting, soft tennis, shooting, women's hockey, chess, sepaktakraw, bowling and tennis.

"It is hard to predict how many gold medals our athletes will win at Doha, but we will try our best to make sure we are at the top," said Xiao Tian, another deputy chef mission of the Chinese delegation.