BEIJING, April 12: China has 538 athletes qualified for this summer’s Beijing Olympics and plans to field about 50 more to make up its largest-ever team, state media reported Sunday.

Chinese athletes have met the hosts’ qualifying criteria in 27 of the 28 sports, with only tennis missing, deputy sports minister Cui Dalin was quoted as saying in the Beijing Daily newspaper.

In all, China expects to enter more than 580 athletes in the Games, Cui said, while cautioning against expectations that China’s depth will see it top the medal standings in August.

“This is the first Olympics where our athletes are competing at home and they face a whole new competition environment and a whole series of difficulties never encountered before,” Cui was quoted as saying.—AP