Chinese delegation attends the opening ceremony of the Buenos Aires Youth Olympics on Oct. 7, 2018. (Zhu Zheng/Xinhua)
BUENOS, AIRES, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- Team China have already set their eyes on the Tokyo Olympic Games after finishing second on the medal table of the Buenos Aires Youth Olympics.
Team China have sent a 139-athlete delegation to the Youth Games, which are set to close on Thursday, and won 21 gold, 10 silver and 9 bronze medals after 13 days of competitions, finishing second after Russia on the medal table.
Some athletes have proved their credentials at the Games, which are open to the world's young athletes aged between 15-19, and showed they have what it takes to win at the Tokyo Games in two years' time.
Just as they did four years ago at the Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games, China's table tennis players leave Buenos Aires as the sport's most powerful team.
Sun Yingsha won the women's singles and Wang Chuqin claimed the men's singles before the two teenagers teamed up to win the mixed doubles gold.
Sun, 18, an upstart who swept all major youth major titles of the world, made her fame at the just-ended Asian Games by winning women's team title in September.
"I will try my best to make the list for Tokyo 2020, which is my dream," said Sun.
Japanese players provided the opposition in all three gold medal contests, female player Miu Hirano and male player Tomokazu Harimoto scoring a hat-trick of silvers.
Chinese diving star Lin Shan is leaving Buenos Aires as a triple gold medalist after topping the mixed team event with Colombia's Daniel Restrepo Garcia and winning women's 10m platform and 3m springboard titles as well.
"I know I have some edge in the evnets, and I expected the golds, but I think I can still improve my skills. In the Tokyo Games, my rivals will be much stronger than in the Youth Games, so I must get prepared for the competitions and hone my skills," she said.
In athletics, high jumper Chen Long from China made his name by breaking the Games' record. His duel against Australia's Oscar Miers was also one of most absorbing matches in track and field, both scoring personal best in career.
"I am very excited about the result and surprised by my rival who has done so well," said 15-year-old Chen. "To beat a record at an Olympic Games is an incomparable sensation that I was not expecting to get."
Chen credited the enthusiasm of the spectators for his record-setting performance: "The people here are much warmer. Feeling that they are applauding you before your jump makes the athlete very strong."
Xi Ricuo, who won the women's 5,000m race walk, was also a Chinese star to watch from track and field competitions.
The Chinese athlete used to be a shepherd girl, destined to lead a life of farming as her parents have done. But race walk put her on a different path.
"I'm so excited to win the Youth Olympics gold," she said after her victory. "I never dream about that. I still can't believe it."
"Track and field changed my life. It is just like a dream," she added.
Elsewhere, there are some other Chinese athletes who made splash at the Youth Games, including gymnasts Yin Dehang and Tang Xijing, badminton player Li Shifeng, swimmer Yang Junxuan and Sun Jiajun.
"We did a very good job at the Youth Games. I'm so satisfied with the result," said Gao Zhidan, Chef de Mission of the Chinese delegation. "They also exchanged experiences with the teenage athletes from around the world, made friends and got to know about the Olympic Values, which is very important to their sporting life."
The third edition of the Summer Youth Olympics, running from Oct. 6-18, have attracted around 4,000 athletes from around the world.