The host delegation founded on Thursday here, the biggest among all for what expected to be the largest winter Asian Games, will see 81 male and 79 female athletes compete in all the 47 events of five sports in the January 28-February 4 tournament.

World champions Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo and Olympic champion Wang Meng spearheaded the squad, and world champion and Olympic silver medalist Wang Manli is also one of the most noticeable.

However, the 33-year-old skater, the oldest among the Chinese athletes, is likely to sit out of the speed skating competition due to knee injury.

"I have not fully recovered from my knee injury, so I don't want take the risk (by competing) as I still want to win an Olympic gold medal," said Wang, who finished runner-up in her favorite event of 500m speed skating in Turin winter Olympics last year.

"I believe my teammates like Ren Hui will do a good job even if I don't compete in Changchun," she said. Ren took bronze in the 500m after Wang in Turin.

Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo, figure skating pairs winners in the world championships in 2002 and 2003, may face strong challenge from their compatriots and newly crowned world champions Pang Qing and Tong Jian.

Turin 500m short track speed skating titlist Wang Meng will be the hot favorite for the women's event in Changchun, capital city of Jilin province.

Japan became the second largest delegation with over 110 athletes while South Korea were the third biggest. Next winter Asian Games hosts Kazakhstan ranked fourth in the number of delegation members.

A total of 816 athletes from 26 countries and regions have registered to compete.