The Special Olympics team is looking forward to staying in Co Wicklow and taking part in the Games, Jasper Becker reports
"We are still preparing to go," said Mr Yong Zhijun, national director of China's 120-strong Special Olympics Team. "It is very important for us to go and see how things are done in Ireland. We will be the next hosts in Shanghai 2007."
Although the Hong Kong Special Olympics team were told last week they were not welcome in Clonmel, Mr Yong says he has received no such message from their host town of Bray in Co Wicklow, which he visited last year.
"We have had no news so I think we are definitely taking part," Mr Yong told The Irish Times in Beijing. "I went there to have a look last year and liked it very much."
He also praised the co-operation he has had from the Irish Embassy in Beijing and from his counterparts in Ireland.
Mr Yong was also at pains to stress that his team, which includes 92 athletes, has had medical check-ups, and no one has any signs of the SARS virus.
They live scattered across China, and before the team leaves for Ireland there will be further checks.
"I hope by that time the crisis will be past its peak," he added.
China has put a huge effort into developing sports for the disabled and is proud that it will be the first country in Asia to host the games, at which participants from 150 countries take part in 20 sports.
These games in Shanghai are regarded as a useful preparation for the Beijing summer Olympics in 2008.
The Chinese government has thrown its weight behind a Special Olympics five-year Plan for Growth to attract 500,000 new athletes by 2005.
The film actor Arnold Schwartzenegger came to China in 2000 to promote the programme and add his considerable force behind a movement.
China has a registered total of 11.82 million mentally disabledpeople, of whom only 50,000 have had any Special Olympics experience.
Altogether there are probably some 20 million with mental disability alone and over 50 million physically disabled.
Despite a massive effort in recent years China's special schools probably still only serve an estimated 360,000 children and adults in need nationwide.
The Special Olympics programme has been running training seminars to teach coaching and administration skills.
It has set up a national training centre for the special athletes in Shenzhen, southern China, and a national winter sports training centre is being built in the northern province of Heilongjiang.