Australia, Canada, China, Chinese Taipei, Japan, the Netherlands, the United States, and Venezuela are set to compete from Aug 12-21 in Beijing.

The United States, a three-time Olympic gold medalist, is fielding a relatively young squad, yet it is clearly the team to beat.

Veterans Leah O'Brien-Amico and Lori Harrigan will not be making the trip while pitcher Lisa Fernandez is only coming as an alternate as the Americans pave the way for a changing of the guard.

The team is now winding its way through 25 states to complete 62 scheduled matches before the Olympics.

In an exhibition game in Oklahoma City last Sunday, the team gave visiting China a 7-0 spanking in five innings.

While China failed to put up much of a fight, Asian neighbors Japan are expected to be anything but pushovers.

Their debut at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996 netted a fourth-place finish, followed by a silver medal at Sydney 2000 and a bronze at Athens 2004.

At the 2006 World Championships, Japan showed its strength by finishing second. It also registered two big wins against US women post-Athens, knocking its western rival out of the Japan Cup in August 2005 shortly after beating it in a World Cup game.

Last August's 10-team Asian Championships were relatively easy for Japan, which left Indonesia having secured its Asian champion status with one year to go before the start of the Beijing Games. It followed this up with another silver medal at the recent 2008 International Challenge Series in Australia.

Meanwhile, Australia is seeking to improve on its runner-up finish in Athens. It has medaled at each of the last three games but has never finished better than silver. It also finished third at the 2006 worlds in Beijing.

Infielder Natalie Ward is expected to shore up the team's strength by drawing on her experience from the last three Olympics and will likely be a staple in new coach Fabian Barlow's lineup. Ward has more caps for her country than any of her teammates past or present.

Finally, the upcoming host country will be looking to relive some of its former glory as memories of its silver medal from the 1996 Olympics remain undimmed. China has not made the podium since then and Beijing would naturally provide the perfect comeback platform if fans can rouse the team to pull out all the stops and provide a minor upset.

(China Daily June 16, 2008)