Chinese sports team heads to Deaflympics

The Chinese sports delegation to the 22nd Summer Deaflympics left for Sofia, Bulgaria, on Tuesday evening, after the 96-member delegation to the event was named in Beijing on Tuesday morning.

The Summer Deaflympics will take place from Friday to Aug 4 in the Bulgarian capital. The Chinese delegation, which includes 67 athletes, will participate in six sports, including athletics, swimming, table tennis, badminton, tennis and basketball.

About 5,000 athletes and staff from 96 countries and regions will compete in 19 sports.

Jia Yong, head of the Chinese delegation and the vice-president of the China Disabled Persons Federation's executive board, said, “The nation pays a lot of attention to sports for the deaf, which is a part of disabled sports and plays an important role in encouraging physically challenged people to participate in sports.”

He said he hopes the athletes will play hard, be persistent and dauntless, and strive for good results.

The delegation is organized by the China Sports Association for the Deaf, which was founded in 1985 and is a member of the International Committee of Sports for the Deaf. China has participated in the Summer Deaflympics five previous times, including the 16th, 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st events.

In the 18th Deaflympics, Chinese athlete Zhao Xiaodong won the first gold medal for the nation in the men's long jump. The delegation won 13 gold medals in the last Deaflympics, held in Chinese Taipei, coming in fourth in gold medals won.