Games: China looking far and wide to fulfill 2020 vision
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[June 15, 2017]
BEIJING (Reuters) - Olympic
powerhouse China has decided to tap into its diaspora with an eye on
the 2020 Games in Tokyo, state news agency Xinhua has reported.
China topped the medal table when Beijing hosted the 2008 Games
before dropping to second in London (2012) and third in Rio de
Janeiro last year.
In an "unprecedented reform", the country's sports governing body
had invited athletes based overseas to compete in the 13th National
Games from Aug. 27 to Sept. 8, the report said.
"We decided to invite high-level athletes from the Chinese diaspora
to take part in the all the 26 competitive sports events of the
National Games," Li Yingchuan, vice minister of China's State
General Administration of Sport, said.
Liu Xiaonong, director of the Competitive Sports Department, said
the athletes must prove they were competitive.
"If we spot talent among the overseas Chinese athletes, and if they
have Chinese citizenship, we will possibly recruit them in
preparation for the 2020 Olympic Games," Liu said.
China has established an ice hockey team comprising overseas Chinese
in Vancouver as it seeks to improve its Winter Olympics performance
ahead of the 2022 Games in Beijing.
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![](../images/061517pics/sports63.jpg)
Kimono-clad women walk past at a construction site of a building
displaying Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics emblems in Tokyo,
Japan May 23, 2017. REUTERS/Issei Kato
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2016/Mar/14/images/ads/current/tires250x300.gif)
"We formed this team to help out national team train and to compete
with them regularly, so as to improve our players' level of
competency," minister Li said.
(Reporting by Amlan Chakraborty in New Delhi; Editing by John
O'Brien) [© 2017 Thomson Reuters. All
rights reserved.]
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