The Chinese athletics team grabbed the second gold medal at the
Bangkok Universiade on Tuesday when Chu Yafei claimed the men's
20km walk title in one hour 24 minutes 37 seconds.
Chinese Jiang Qiuyan clinched the first gold medal of the 24th
Universiade last Thursday in women's 20km walk.
In today's competition, Chu started with the traditional
strategy of following the leading walker, and managed to stay in
the leading group till the last lap. Then he outraced his rival
Park Chil Sung of South Korea to clinch the gold.
Park finished second only five seconds behind Chu, while Japan'
s Morioka Koichiro took the bronze medal in 1:25.10.
"They are not really high-level competitors," said Chu,
referring to his rivals in today's race. "And the time is not my
personal best."
"However, the title at least makes me more confident in the
following races towards to Beijing Olympics," Chu added, after
defeating his teammate Zeng Guoqiang, the runner-up of the National
Championships.
Chu currently is one of China's top five race walkers in the
event. Zeng, who is ranking second in China, merely got the ninth
place this morning.
"He could have achieved better result," said Chu's coach Zhang
Jingjun. "But we just take the Universiade as part of the training,
since his rivals are not competitive enough."
Thanks to the two gold medals claimed in previous Olympiads, the
race walk events, together with men's 110 hurdles, have become the
major gold hopes for host's athletics team in the coming Beijing
Olympics.
Chen Yueling from China won the women's 10km walk title at the
1992 Barcelona Olympics, and her compatriot Wang Liping was crowned
in women's 20km walk at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
(Xinhua News Agency August 14, 2007)