Chinese delegation to the 15th Asian Games Doha 2006 attends a flag-hoisting ceremony at the Asian Games Athletes Village in Doha, capital of Qatar, November 29, 2006. The 15th Asia's grandest sports meeting will run from December 1-15. [Xinhua]

DOHA, Qatar - It has the biggest team and the most successful record, so it's no wonder China is the favorite to again top the Asian Games medal standings.

The only question, team officials say, is whether they'll top the 150 golds taken at Busan, South Korea four years back.

"Being No. 1 is for certain," team spokesman Zhang Haifeng said following China's flag raising ceremony at the Athlete's Village in Doha on Wednesday.

"But you can't say how many golds we'll take because that's the beauty of sport: The uncertainty," Zhang said.

China, which has won the most medals of any team at every Asian Games since 1982, has brought 647 athletes to Doha, Qatar, slightly more than the 628 brought by second place Japan.

China will be competing in 37 of the 39 sports, leaving out only karate and the traditional Indian game of kabaddi.

With talent to spare, China has left many of its most experienced athletes behind in order to give young competitors a chance to build experience toward the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics. The team is 23.3-years-old on average and includes 413 athletes who are participating in their first major multi-event games - nearly 64 percent of the team.

Among the biggest names omitted were the world's top-ranked men's and women's players in table tennis, Wang Liqin and Zhang Yining.

Team official Huang Biao said the pair had already experienced the Olympics and Asian Games and it was time to "test our less experienced players."

Olympic gold medalists Wang Nan and Ma Lin remain on the Asian Games squad, however, because: "We need to maintain a certain level of experience in the team," Huang said.

Showing there was little to fear, China needed only 30 minutes to beat Kuwait 3-0 in Wednesday's opening match of the womens team table tennis competition.

Distance runner Xing Huina and 100-meters breaststroke champion Luo Xuejuan won't be appearing either at Doha, although 110-meter hurdles world record holder Liu Xiang will be, along with a formidable women's tennis team that includes Li Na, the top-ranked Asian woman player at No. 21.

In some sports, China will be seeking to rebuild, including in women's volleyball, gold medal winners at the Athens Olympics but only fifth-place finishers at this year's world championships. Coach Chen Zhonghe said following the team's arrival that he was targeting gold, but would be satisfied just with an improved performance.

The men's basketball team also has something to prove in erasing its 102-100 loss to South Korea in the finals four years ago. Although NBA star Yao Ming isn't along for the trip, Lithuanian born coach Jonas Kazlauskas said he's still confident gold is in sight.

"It's a possibility. We'll try," Kazlauskas said at the flag raising ceremony.

Along with the biggest team, China also boasts the largest media contingent with 365 journalists attending, 95 from the official Xinhua News Agency alone.

That's also a sign of how the China's performance will be scrutinized in its last major competition as a team on foreign soil before the Beijing Olympics, reporters said.

"There's a lot of interest because China always dominates at the Asian Games," said Xinhua reporter Wang Jimin, who was among a crowd of about 100 Chinese journalists who turned out of the for flag raising ceremony.

"Everyone wants to see how far along the preparations are for 2008," Wang said.

Chinese journalists said they would also be seeing what organizational lessons Doha might have for Beijing.

Questioned whether Beijing organizers felt under pressure, Zhang complimented Doha's preparations.

"We can definitely study them," said Zhang. "They've done a really good job organizing things here in Doha."