Basketball icon Yao Ming says he will have to wear ear plugs to cushion the deafening roar expected from the home crowd as he leads

out China's national team at Friday's Olympic opening ceremony.

The Houston Rockets centre who was the flag bearer for China in Athens four years ago has been selected to do the honours again here and said he expected a raucous welcome at the 92,000-seater National Stadium.

"It's exciting to be the flag bearer again in the host land," said Yao.

"It will be totally different from my experience in Athens. The atmosphere wil reach its hottest point - I'm afraid LU have to wear

earplugs."

China is fielding its biggest ever Olympic delegation that includes 639 athletes who will be competing in all 28 sports at the Olympics for the first time in a bid to top the medals table ahead of the United States.

China finished second in Athens in the gold medal standings, just three adrift of the United States.

Publicly, China's leadership have played down the country's sporting ambitions and Cui Dalin, deputy chief of China's Olympic team, said the team had no official medal target.

But he said he hoped all athletes would perform to their highest

"We have never set a medal target. But we have made very serious preparations and all athletes have undergone very hard training," he said. "It is safe to say that we have made progress with regard to previous performances."

China's athletes are under

extreme pressure to perform well including Yao, the 2.26-metre (7-foot 6-inch) NBA star who is also carrying the nation's hopes for a first-ever Olympic basketball medal.

The team play the United States in their opening game on Sunday and Yao said he was looking forward to the clash.

"There won't be many opportunities like this to play against an all-star team. I have been waiting for this moment for such a long time," he said.

The choice of Yao as flag bearer effectively rules him out as the choice to light the Olympic flame at the opening ceremony.

The identity of the individual is a closely guarded secret, but Yao's name was often cited as a candidate in the Chinese press along with other big names such as track star Liu Xiang, the Olympic 110m hurdles champion, and shooter Xu Haifeng, who won China's first ever Olympic gold in Los Angeles in 1984.