The veteran pair's decision was welcomed by China's winter sports officials.

"If they can retain their current form until the 2010 Games, they will be favorites to win gold," said Ren Hongguo, deputy director of the country's winter sports administration.

This optimism is not shared by the country's other top pair, reigning world champions Pang Qing and Tong Jian, who are caught in a spiral of injuries and health worries.

Last September Pang was hit by a kidney disease, which forced her to rest for months and skip the Grand Prix series this season.

Practicing together for only two weeks, the pair competed at the China Grand Prix in Nanjing last November, where they finished runners-up with a new program.

With Pang recovering, they would have been expecting a return to international competition at the Asian Games.

But Tong suffered a head injury in a car crash in late December after winning the National Championships, forcing him to miss a crucial week of training.

"We were so unlucky last year," Tong said. "We hope all the bad luck has gone now."

"We will try our best at the Asian Winter Games, even though we are not in top form, We will feel satisfied if we can overcome adversity."

Another Chinese pair Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao, Olympic silver medalists in Turin, will miss the Asian Winter Games as they are competing at the 23rd World University Winter Games, from January 17 to 27 also in Turin. The Zhangs has won the pairs competition at the Universiade on Saturday.

The 6th Asian Winter Games will be held in Changchun, northeast China, from January 28 to February 4.

A total of 816 athletes from 26 countries and regions will compete in 47 events from five sports.

China will send the largest delegation of 160 athletes who will participate in all 47 events.

At the last Winter Asian Games in Aomori, Japan, in 2003, Chinese athletes won a total of nine gold medals, 11 silvers and 13 bronzes. Japan topped the medal table with 24 gold, 23 silver and 20 bronze, while South Korea went home with 10 gold, 8 silver and 10 bronze.