Yi Jianlian，member of the Chinese basketball team，responds to a reporter outside the Doha International Airport in Doha, capital of Qatar, yesterday. -Xinhua

The Chinese sports delegation arrived in Doha yesterday afternoon for the Doha Asian Games in hopes of topping the medal table for the seventh consecutive time.

"The Asian Games are one of the biggest sports event in the world and we are sending a large scale delegation to participate in the Games," said Liu Peng, chef de mission of the delegation and president of the State General Administration of Sports.

China, who has dominated top position at the quadrennial tournament for six times in a row since the 1982 version of the Asian Games in New Delhi, India, is sending 647 athletes to compete in 37 out of 39 events in the 15-day tournament starting on Dec. 1 in Doha.

"The Chinese delegation will strive to top the medals table for the seventh time running," said Duan Shijie, deputy chef de mission of the Chinese Sports Delegation and vice president of the State General Administration of Sports.

Arriving on Tuesday were 241 members of the Chinese delegation, including the headquarters and 12 teams, namely the men's basketball, women's volleyball, beach volleyball and judo, weightlifting, soft tennis, shooting, women's hockey, chess, sepaktakraw, bowling and tennis.

"It is hard to predict how many gold medals our athletes will win at Doha, but we will try our best to make sure we are at the top," said Xiao Tian, another deputy chef mission of the Chinese delegation.