China's athletes pledge 'glory' as biggest Olympic team unveiled

BEIJING (AFP) - Yao Ming and many of China's other top athletes pledged "glory to the motherland" on Friday as the nation's biggest-ever Olympic team was unveiled for the Beijing Games.

At a ceremony in Beijing to unveil the squad of 639 athletes, basketball star Yao, reigning 110m Olympic champion Liu Xiang and dozens of others vowed in unison to do the nation of 1.3 billion people proud.

"For the glory of the motherland, I will, during the Beijing Olympics, doggedly struggle, summon all courage and energy to be first, compete with fairness and friendship, win without pride, and lose without losing spirit," they said, according to an account on the popular Web portal Sohu.com.

"We will achieve the twin goals of athletic success and civilised spirit, make a good showing for the nation's people and win honour for the motherland."

They also vowed to "resolutely resist provocation".