"Chinese athletics is gradually closing the gap on the top world levels but generally we are still a long way off," national coach Feng said.

"This is a very good opportunity to rehearse for the Olympics because Osaka has the same weather and humidity as Beijing.

"We are sending a comparatively young team and most of them will be among our Olympic squad next year.

"I hope they could gain valuable experience from such high-level international competitions."

Feng said it was hard to predict how many medals China would win but he expects more athletes to set personal bests.

"I hope 35 percent of the athletes could compete in their best forms, which means over 20 athletes could achieve their personal best," said Feng.

"In the last Worlds, the Chinese athletes reached the top eight for 11 times. I hope we could do better this time and more could reach the finals."

Despite winning four middle and long-distance gold medals at the 1993 world championships in Stuttgart, Chinese athletes will be absent from both events in Osaka.

Xing Huina, women's 10,000m gold medalist at the 2004 Athens Olympics, failed to qualify for Japan after succumbing to a recurring injury.

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