BEIJING, Aug 19: China’s athletes will bag 15 track and field gold medals at the upcoming Asian Games, maintaining the country’s top continental spot in the disciplines, a leading Beijing sports official predicted Monday.

China aims to see off tough competition from main rivals Japan and South Korea at the event, Wang Dawei, vice director of the Chinese track and field administrative centre told the official Xinhua news agency.

Nonetheless, mirroring the success of the previous Asian Games when Chinese athletes also won 15 golds will be a tricky task at the upcoming competition, running from Sept 29 to Oct 14 in Busan, South Korea, Wang said.

“It’s a tough project for the Chinese athletics as many of our gold hopefuls retired due to injuries,” he said.

Among the absentees will be Olympic walking champion Wang Liping and female sprinters Li Xuemei, Guan Yingnan and Liu Xiaomei, all of whom retired after the National Games in September.—AFP