The reigning Olympic fencing champion Lei Sheng has been named flag-bearer for China at the upcoming Rio Olympic Games opening ceremony on Wednesday.

According to Xinhua, Lei, 32, scooped the first male foil gold medal at the London Games four years ago. The 1.90 meter- tall native of Guangdong Province is also a two-time world team titleholder at the 2010 and 2011 World Fencing Championships that was held in Paris and Catania, respectively.

Like Us on Facebook

China's flag-bearers to the Summer Olympic Games have been basketball players since the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles California, United States. Former NBA star and four-time CBA Domestic MVP Yi Jianlian was selected to carry the flag at the London 2012 Olympics.

Lei will be representing his country at the Olympics for the third time and believes that it would be his final spin.

"Rio is most likely my last time to compete in Olympics. I want to enjoy it and finish it with a good result," Lei said.

China has sent a delegation of 416 athletes to the upcoming 2016 Summer Olympic Games.

The Chinese delegation is composed of 256 women athletes and 160 men who will be representing the country and will be competing in 210 fixtures in over 26 different sports, according to The Financial Express.

At the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London, the United Kingdom, a delegation of 396 Chinese athletes competed and finished second place behind the United States on the medals table. China took home a total of 88 medals 38 gold, 28 silver and 22 bronze.

China is expected to scrape up most of its golds from six sports where the country usually dominates - gymnastics, badminton, shooting, table tennis, diving, and weightlifting.

Tagslei sheng, Rio Olympics 2016, Jianlian Yi, NBA, chinese basketball association, Chinese national fencing team