Chinese Female Cyclist Breaks Asian Record in Busan

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, October 05, 2002

Chinese Female Cyclist Breaks Asian Record in Busan

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Chinese Female Cyclist Breaks Asian Record

Chinese cyclist Zhao Haijuan set the new Asian and the Asian Games record of the women's 3km individual pursuit at three minutes and 46.523 seconds and took the gold in Busan by edging Indonesian Muzizah Uyun in the final on Saturday afternoon.

The former Asian record of 3:46.752 was made by Chinese Wang Qingzhi in 1994 Hiroshima Asiad.

Zhao, 31, who was the runner-up in women's 3km individual pursuit in 1998 Bangkok Asiad and claimed the title at the 22th Asian cycling championships in May, met a tough duel with Uyun in the final.

Zhao, holding a Chinese national flag, said after the match,"In the first three laps, the Indonesian took the lead in about three seconds, which might make my supporters feel nervous. But it was not beyond my expectation. I have been confident of winning the final race."

None of the cyclists could even come closer to the other. When Zhao's coach roared,"Sprint!" in the last lap, Zhao darted to the finish line and clinched the title.

"I do come here to get this gold and I have full confidence in my strength. But I am also surprised by breaking the Asian and Asian Games records." she said with a smile.

Zhao's gold is the third gold medal collected by the Chinese cycling team in Busan.

Uyun took the silver at 3:47.489.

South Korean Lim Hyang-joon beat Lan Hsiao Yun from Chinese Taipei to garner the bronze in 3:56.240.

In the second final this afternoon, Kazakh cyclist Kravchenko Vadim caught up with South Korean Suh Seok-kyu at four minutes and14.459 seconds to clinch the men's 4km individual pursuit gold.

"This scene is rarely seen in the finals of high-level international cycling races," Chinese cycling team manager Tian Junrong said after the final.

Vadim came up from behind and overtook Suh about two hundreds meters away from the finish line in the last lap.

Suh clocked 4:29.415 when the race finished automatically as the overtaking.

Iljima Noriyuki from Japan beat Askari Hossein from Iran to take the bronze in 4:44.004.

In the first final kicking off this afternoon, the Japanese men's cycling team clinched the gold of team sprint, clocking one minute 0.927 second.

Hosts South Korea took the silver with 1:01.846, while Chinese Taipei garnered the bronze with 1:02.415.

In the Japan-South Korea final, the three Japanese cyclists have been leading their South Korean opponents from the first lap of the three-lap duel.

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