Good news for China at the Qingdao International Regatta as in both men's and women's RS:X the host country had nice positions.

Thursday was the best day for the regatta since it started with a wind of seven knots and strong current, which set sailing nine events.

In RS:X Men, He Feng of China moved up to pace the race. His team mate Fang Zhennan finished second overall. Lukasz Grodzicki of Poland came in third place.

Chen Peina and Sun Limei finished second and third in RS:X Women after two races. Faustine Merret of France was first overall. While Olympic runner-up in the 2004 Olympic Games Yin Jian ranked fifth.

The 28-year-old Yin commented on her first day's performance by saying: "There is something wrong with my sail board. Today is pretty good. The wind is ok. Maybe we will be better if the wind is lighter."

"Now it is just a practice. No matter the wind is light or strong, it's always good for us to know other sailors' performance."

Injury-plagued Yin has been resuming her form since last year's winter training and could participate in the regatta thanks to a wild card.

Chinese sailors in Yngling class also did a good job as China One came out second overall.

However, Skipper Song Xiaqun still played down their performance. "Today the wind is the best for these days. In the past half year the days with light wind are more than strong wind. So we will get better results in light wind. We do not care about wind because we have no choice and have to race," said Song.

"There are some mistakes in Race 2 today. I can say that the strongest competitors are from the Netherlands and Britain."

Xu Lijia, winner of World Laser Radial Championships, has been restoring her power as she moved one place up to ninth place overall.

(Xinhua News Agency August 25, 2006)