China blamed fierce competition for their Rio flop and promised to examine their “shortcomings” on Saturday after slumping to their worst Olympic performance in 20 years. China topped the table in 2008 and were second in 2004 and 2012, but Chinese Olympic committee chief Liu Peng said rising standards had taken them by surprise. In the Rio Games we didn’t win so many medals... we didn’t assess objectively the challenges we might face at these Games,” said Liu. “In recent years more countries have attached importance to the Olympic Games, so the level of play internationally has come up and the competition has become fierce. “We have fully demonstrated our Chinese spirit.

Source: Hindustan Times August 21, 2016 07:30 UTC