A 15-member Chinese weightlifting squad, packed with world and Olympic champions, left Beijing on  Wednesday for the world championships in Vancouver.

China dispatched a dream team, consisting of eight men and  seven women top lifters of the country, to compete in the  tournament, which is to decide the berths for the Athens Olympic Games next year.

Double Olympic champion Zhan Xugang and Sydney Games gold  medallist Ding Meiyuan spearhead the men's and women's lineups  respectively.  While Sydney 56kg bronze medallist Zhang Xiangxiang missed the men's event because of injury, almost all women members are world or Olympic champions.

"Although we're to face certain challenge from the rest of the  world," women's coach Ma Wenhui said. "we still have the advantage in all the categories we participate in."

Among the full-strength women's team, Liu Xia just set a new  world record for the 63kg category in September's Asian  Championships, and Liu Chunhong is the current world record holder for 69kg.

Chinese strongwomen, with overwhelming power in the world,  still hold 20 world records out of a total of 21 in seven women's  categories, according to Ma.

Besides veteran Zhan, men's lineup also features Zhang Guozheng, who created a new world mark of 197.5kg in jerk in the men's 69kg  in September.

The Vancouver championships is slated for November 14-24. Both  in men's and women's events, the top six teams will book the  tickets for Athens. Each of the six men's teams is able to  dispatch six lifters at the most to the 2004 Games, but the women' s rule stipulates that a country or region can field no more than  four competitors.

"We should have no trouble making it into the 2004 games," men' s team leader Pang Gaoxing said.

Squad

Men: Lu Jinbi and Wu Meijin (56kg), Le Maosheng and Shi Zhiyong (69kg), Zhang Guozheng (69kg), Li Hongli and Zhan Xugang (77kg),  Yuan Aijun (85kg).

Women: Wang Mingjuan (48kg), Sun Caiyan (58kg), Liu Xia and  Xiong Meiying (63kg), Liu Chunhong (69kg), Shang Shichun (75kg),  Ding Meiyuan (75+kg).

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