Beijing, Jul 14 (IANS): China will send 431 athletes, including 24 Olympic champions, to the upcoming Tokyo Games as the Chinese delegation was unveiled here on Wednesday.

The delegation, including 298 female and 133 male athletes, will compete in 225 events at the Games, which is scheduled to open on July 23. Among the 24 Olympic champions in the delegation, 19 won gold at the 2016 Rio Olympics while 293 athletes will make their Olympic debut, reports Xinhua.

"This is the largest ever Olympic delegation China has sent overseas," said Gao Zhidan, deputy director of China's State General Administration of Sport. He said that the delegation has a total of 777 members, including 30 foreign coaches and almost all the delegation members have taken COVID-19 vaccines.

Quan Hongchan, 14, who will compete in the women's diving event, is the youngest member of the delegation, while the 52-year-old Li Zhenqiang from the Chinese equestrian team will be the oldest Chinese athlete to be featured at the Games.

Women's shot put world champion Gong Lijiao, two-time taekwondo Olympic gold medallist Wu Jingyu, men's shooting world champion Pang Wei, Olympic race walk champion Liu Hong and Olympic trampoline silver medallist Dong Dong are among the most experienced athletes in the delegation as they are on their fourth Olympic trip.

China expects a haul of gold medals from traditionally strong sports such as table tennis, badminton, gymnastics, weightlifting, shooting and diving.