South Korea surged up the medals chart thanks to its short-track
speed skating champions but China still dominated the
Asian Winter Games with four new titles.
The host nation has 12 gold medals, against seven for Japan and
six for South Korea. Kazakhstan also joined the gold standard with
two cross-country titles.
In speed skating China won two of the four golds, as Wang Fei
added the 1,500m title to her 5,000m victory on Monday, both
achieved in Asian record times.
Wang, 24, won in 2min 01.49sec, relegating Lee Ju-Youn of South
Korea to second place with China's Ji Jia third.
China's second gold went to women's sprinter Xing Aihua in the
100m. Teammate Wang Beixing, the 500m winner on Tuesday, took
second place and Lee Sang-Hwa of South Korea third.
Japan scored a gold in the men's 100m with Yuya Oikawa inching
out Yu Fengtong of China and Lee Kang-Seok of South Korea who
finished second and third, respectively.
South Korea's Lee Kyou Hyuk snatched the men's 1,500m title,
matching the Asian record of 1min 49.13sec with Gao Xuefeng of
China second and Mun Joon of South Korea third.
In short-track speed skating South Korea took three of the four
titles as Olympic champion Ahn Hyun-Soo won the men's 1,000m race
and Jin Sun-Yu won the women's 1,000m.
Jin Sun-Yu
South Korea's men brought in the third gold with victory in the
5000m relay but China ensured there was no medals sweep for the
night by claiming the women's 3,000m gold.
In the final overall short-track speed skating medal table
featuring eight events, South Korea led with four golds, five
silvers and two bronzes, followed by China with four golds, three
silvers and five bronzes, leaving only one third-place finish to
Japan.
"We won just one gold while South Korea took six in the Turin Olympic Games," said Li Yan, head coach
of the Chinese team. "We saw hope here. And our next goal is the
Olympic Games in Vancouver in 2010."
In cross-country Kazakhstan won their first gold medals of the
Asian Games, taking both races on Wednesday.
In the women's 5km classical, Oxana Yatskaya won in 15min
57.73sec ahead of compatriot Svetlana Malakhova. China's Wang
Chunli was third.
Kazakhstan swept the men's 30km free skiing with Maxim
Odnodvortsev winning in 1hr 22min 44sec followed by Andrey
Kondryshev and Andrey Golovko.
Olympic silver medalist Li Nina led a Chinese sweep in the
freestyle skiing women's aerials despite high winds and falling
snow.
Li Nina
Second was awarded to 17-year-old Xu Mengtao with teammate Zhang
Xin third.
However, because competition rules specifically state that no
one nation can win all medals in one event, 16-year-old Maral
Unenbat of Mongolia, who finished fifth behind four Chinese, was
awarded the bronze. The special rule only adopted on Jan. 31 was
made by Olympic Council of Asia in an attempt to encourage more
Asian countries to participate in the Winter Games.
In the giant slalom Emiko Kiyosawa of Japan claimed her
country's second gold medal of the day ahead of Oh Jae-Eun and Kim
Sun-Joo of South Korea.
(China Daily, Xinhua News Agency February 1, 2007)
