Liverpool, Aug 3: The United States will win 99 medals followed by China's 90 at the Rio Olympics, academic sports forecasters at the University of Liverpool have predicted.

Professor David Forrest and Juan De Dios Tena, from the university's management school, worked alongside professor Ian McHale from the University of Salford, to reveal their predicted team-by-team medal table for Rio 2016, based on statistical modelling.

The team forecast on Tuesday the US will top the list with 99 medals, followed by China with 90 medals, with Great Britain trailing a distant third at 51 medals.

The rest of the top ten sees Germany sixth with 36 medals, followed by Japan (31), France (30) and Italy (26). The Netherlands and Spain are predicted to finish joint tenth, with 20 medals each.

IANS