The program of Bangkok World University Games is favorable for China, who will try hard to nail no less than 21 gold medals from last version of the Games, said a delegation official on Monday.

The Bangkok Universiade, to kick off on August 8 in Thailand's capital, replaced sailing, archery and wrestling from Izmir Universiade in Turkey with badminton, table tennis, judo and shooting, golf and softball in its competition program.

"As it is known, badminton, table tennis and shooting are traditionally strong events for China, which means we may have more gold mines to dig," said Wang Gang, general secretary of the Chinese delegation formally set up on Monday.

"So our goal would be trying to claim no less than 21 gold medals," he said. China bagged 21 gold, 16 silver and 12 bronze medals to rank second, behind Russia with 26, 16 and 23 respectively.

China will send a 447-member delegation to their last multi-sport meet before the Beijing Olympic Games to open on August 8 next year, to compete in 13 of the 15 events on the program.

Despite of the preparation for the Beijing Games, Wang said, the Ministry of Education managed to field a quite strong squad which sees 21 Athens Olympians, including Athens men's diving champions Hu Jia and Peng Bo.

"Of course there are also some elements working against us," said Wang. "Most of the 286 athletes just came back from China's national university games in Guangzhou. Some of them have not yet recovered from injuries and fatigue."

The first group of the delegation will leave for Bangkok on Friday. (Xinhua)