"Wang has had some minor injuries lately," said Huang, adding that China still will have an experienced team in Doha, including Olympic gold medalists Wang Nan and Ma Lin.

China will have a relatively inexperienced team overall at Doha, which has led to the inevitable suggestions that the 2008 Olympic hosts, fearful of a doping scandal so close to the Beijing Games, are shielding many of their top athletes.

Nearly 64 percent _ 413 of the 647 athletes -- on the Chinese roster will be participating in their first major international meet, Chinese officials say.

Elsewhere, organizers said horses would be drug-tested during the games, adding to the approximately 1,200 doping tests that will be conducted on athletes.

Damian Noseda of Australia, the equine medication control manager, said up to 200 horses could be tested twice on site at the Doha Racing and Equestrian Club, where the equestrian competitions begin next Monday.

Blood and urine tests will be conducted on all medal-winning horses and a random five percent of others, said Noseda. The samples will then be sent in tamperproof bags to a laboratory in Hong Kong for analysis.

At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, equestrian competitions will be held in Hong Kong due to fears over equine diseases in China.

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