Chinese men taekwondists, long overshadowed by their high-profile women counterparts, are looking for gold medal breakthrough in the year-end Asian Games in Doha.

Lu Fan, the Chinese men taekwondists head coach, told Xinhua here on Tuesday that they valued Doha Asiad in December as the most important event in 2006 and aimed for their first-ever gold medal in the all-Asian grand gathering.

The Chinese women taekwondo athletes have collected three Olympic gold medals since the sports first entered the Sydney Games in 2000 while their men's best international result is a bronze medal in the 1997 world championships.

But they have recently surfaced in the international arena as Liu Xiaobo, 21, struck an unexpected win in men's +80kg at the East Asian Games in November. The young squad then clinched two bronze medals in the prestigious Iran Open earlier this month.

Taekwondo competitions in the Asian Games have eight divisions for men's and women's each. China have six men's berths in hand but they have yet to decide which divisions to compete.

"We will pick up the lineup in October," Lu said at a winter training camp.

Despite outstanding performance in major international events, Lu thought the Chinese men still far trail Asian powerhouses South Korea and Iran.

"Asiad is no easier than an Olympics for us. It assembles almost all men's aces. We've just started and we know it's hard to seek gold, but confidence is the last thing we lack," he said.

(Xinhua News Agency March 22, 2006)