The competitions would still be tough though some of the big names in the gymnastics world didn't turn up, said Miao Zhongyi, director of the competition department.

"The Universiade will be the first international tournament to adopt the new gymnastics rules. So it is hard to predict the results," said Miao, "but traditional gymnastic powerhouses such as Russia, China, Ukraine and the United States remain the favorites."

As the host of the games, China expects more golds in the sport.

"We field a strong team at the games and hope to win at least 3 to 5 gold medals." said Ye Zhennan, manager of the Chinese gymnastic team.

Among the Chinese gymnasts to compete at the Universiade are Olympic champions Li Xiaopeng, Yang Wei, Zheng Lihui and Xing Aowei. The other members of the Chinese team are either world champions or China's national champions.

As for the Chinese women's team, Olympic bronze medalists Ling Jie, Huang Mandan and Dong Fangxiao will be joined by Liu Wei, who shared with Olympic gold medalist Liu Xuan the gold medal in beam at the 2000 national championship.

The Chinese team will face a strong challenge from Russia which sends some of their best gymnasts to the University Games including Olympic silver medalist Naxim Alechine and several other national champions.

"It is hard to say for the moment who will be the best at the University Games because the new rules make every team start afresh." said Ye.

(Xinhua News Agency 08/22/2001)