Roundup: China Revs up Gold Machine, Four World Marks Tumble

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, October 03, 2002

Roundup: China Revs up Gold Machine, Four World Marks Tumble

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China pulled away on overall gold medals race on Wednesday as its rowers swept all six golds and its shooters set two world records en route to seven out of eight titles on the first finals day of both sports.

Japanese Kosuke Kitajima broke a 10-year-old swimming world record and Chinese Le Maosheng erased a weightlifting world standard.

China also landed two golds from weightlifting, four from swimming, one each from gymnastics and fencing, giving it 21 for the day and 36 in all. Japan had 13 after winning three from swimming and one in synchronized swimming.

South Korea's total reached 10. It won three from judo and one in cycling, while DPR Korea added two golds from shooting and judo, raising its total to three.

The most stunning result came from the swimming pool as Japanese swimming role model Kitajima won the men's 200m breaststroke in two minutes 9.97 seconds, 0.19 faster than the oldworld record set by American Mike Barrowman in the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games.

"I swam very smoothly in the first half," said the 20-year-old."I had 15 strokes in the first 50m and did the same in the second that allowed me to maintain my energy to the end.

Still recovering from an elbow injury suffered at last August's Pan Pacific Championships where he was crowned over 100m, Kitajima admitted that he was not confident for his 200m before the competition.

"I hadn't competed in this distance since the national championships in June. And my elbow injury is not fully recovered.I had no idea what I could do in the 200m," he said.

Japan had a 4-1 domination on the gold medal hunt on the first day but came to a 0-5 whitewash to China the second day. Kitajima hoped his performance will boost his teammates' morale.

"I hope my record can stimulate our team's spirit after yesterday's slump," said Kitajima, who dominated the men's 100m breaststroke gold on the opening day.

But the Japanese swimmers failed to win over their arch rivals Wednesday night, going down 2-4, with the golds from Kitajima and Shunichi Fujita in the men's 400m freestyle.

The Chinese made it four on the night capped by a sweet victory over Japan in the men's 4x100m freestyle relay. All the three women's golds belonged to China with Zhou Yafei winning the 100m butterfly, Zhan Shu 100m backstroke and Xu Yanwei 100m freestyle.

Chinese marksmen and women shattered two world marks and bagged seven golds as Zhao Yinghui, Li Jie and Wang Yifu became double gold medalists on a single day.

Zhao, 21, led Gao Jing and Du Li to a new world record and a team title in the women's 10m air pistol before she claimed the individual crown.

The Chinese trio garnered 1,194 points to better the world record by four points. Zhao also scored 501.4 points for the individual gold.

"I was shocked by my own results," said Zhao. "I didn't expect gold here because host shooters are very strong."

In the men's 10m air rifle, the Chinese team led by Li Jie chalked up a new world record of 1,788 points to win the team title. The previous mark of 1,785 was set by Russia in the world championships in July. Li later won the individual gold with 700.8points.

Five-time Olympian and six-time Asiad veteran Wang Yifu added amen's free pistol crown to his 1992 Olympic title after he leading the Chinese to the team title.

Chinese Gao E won the women's trap title with 84 hits. The team title went to DPR Korea.

In rowing, China's six easy victories mean that since the sport was introduced into the Games in New Delhi in 1982, the country has won 51 of the 53 gold medals contested.

The Chinese, who clean-swept 11 golds in the 1998 Bangkok Games,started their charge here when 23-year-old Zhu Zhifu won the men's lightweight single sculls and Fu Fengjin added gold in the women's event.

China had an easy win in the men's coxless fours when Wang Bo, Chen Zheng, Chi Huanqi and Sun Jian paddled to the top honor in 6:46.25.

The winning momentum continued on the Nakdong River when the Chinese women easily snatched the coxless fours.

Cui Yonghui finished over 12 seconds ahead of his closest rival to take gold in the men's single sculls and Zhang Xiuyun completed the Chinese gold tally in the women's single sculls.

Chinese Hercules Le Maosheng lifted a world record weight in the clean and jerk in his way to win the men's 62kg category. He bettered by 1.5kg the previous world mark set by Oleshchuk Genady of Belarus at the world championships last November.

Earlier Chinese Zhou Yan lifted the gold medal of the women's 58kg category.

China won the men's foil team final but lost the epee team gold to Kazakhstan in a score of 30-31.

The Chinese also grabbed the women's gymnastics team final, beating DPR Korea and Japan.

South Korea clinched three gold medals on the third day of judo action.

Lee Eun-hee won the women's under 52kg category while her compatriot Choi Yong-sin crushed his Japanese opponent to win men's 73kg title, and Kim Hyung-ju triumphed in the men's 66kg category final.

The other judo gold went to Hong Ok Song of DPR Korea who won the women's under 57kg division.

In cycling, South Korean Kim Yong-mi won the women's 96.8km road race.

In synchronized swimming, world champs Miya Tachibana and Miho Takeda from Japan was a class above their rivals, winning the duet gold with 98.417 points. Tachibana was solo gold medalist 24 hours ago.

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Roundup: China Revs up Gold Machine, Four World Marks Tumble

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