Chinese freestyle skiers swept both men's and women's aerials
titles at the
6th Asian Winter Games at the Beidahu ski
resort.
Olympic champion Han Xiaopeng pulled out two superb jumps in a
field of eight athletes to claim his first Asiad gold medal on
Thursday.
World champion and Olympic silver medalist Li Nina won the
women's aerials without a hitch on Wednesday.
"Chinese skiers are too good for the opponents and we have a
handful of top athletes for aerials," said Rao Gang, team leader of
the Chinese freestyle squad. "The youngsters are also catching
up."
Han's teammates Qiu Sen, Liu Zhongqing and Li Ke finished second
to fourth respectively on the scoreboard. Fifth-ranked Japanese
Kotaro Kurata shared the bronze medal with Liu according to the OCA
rules that one team can not sweep all medals.
The Chinese women swept the top four in a five-skier field with
Maral Unenbat of Mongolia sharing the bronze with Chinese
athletes.
Han hit the big time at the Turin Winter Olympics by claiming the men's
aerials title, but slumped in last year's World Cup series, winning
second place in Beidahu and Spindleruv, Czech Republic,
respectively.
"I did not ski my best and the strong wind also affected my
performance. I am very happy with the result and I think it was a
little bit luck as my teammates all had chance to win," said Han,
now ranked fifth in the world.
On the rink, China's women and South Korea's men teams took full
house in the 1,000m speed skating events respectively, where both
Asian records were toppled.
China dominated the women's event with Wang Beixing crowned for
the second time in an Asian record of one minute 17.35 seconds
after winning the 500m event on Tuesday. The previous record of
1:19.17 was set by South Korean Kim You-Lim earlier in January.
Wang Beixing
Wang Fei, the first double gold medalist here, finished in
1:17.54, adding a silver to her medal tally. Ren Hui was in 1:18.84
on the third place shared with Kim You-Lim in 1:18.96.
"We did not expect such a good result before the race actually,"
said Wang Beixing. "For me, the big goal is to do better in the
Winter Olympics in 2010."
In the men's race, Lee Kyou-Hyuk, the reigning champion and the
winner in the men's 1,500m on Wednesday, became the third double
gold medalist at the Asiad claiming the 1,000 meters title in
1:09.86.
"I am glad that I did well here," said the 29-year-old Lee. "I
have gone through a tough time. This may be my last tournament, but
I am not quite sure."
His compatriot Mun Joon, the former Asian record holder, took
the silver medal in 1:10.45, followed by Choi Jae-Bong of South
Korea in 1:10.92, who also beat the previous record of 1:11.74.
Nakajima Takaharu of Japan shared the bronze with a record of
1:11.35.
China's third gold in Day 4 of competition came from Women's
Biathlon 15km Individual by Liu Xianying who finished in
56:27.6.
Japan demonstrated their supremacy in Alpine skiing again when
veteran Yasuhiro Ikuta won the men's giant slalom title.
In both the men's and women's curling finals, South Korea
defeated Japan twice, a 3-2 victory for the men and a 7-6 win for
the women.
Kazakhstan registered their third gold medal as Alexandr
Chervyakov beat Chinese Zhang Qing to win the men's 20km individual
biathlon event.
China kept their lead 15-15-18, South Korea placed second
(9-12-9) and Japan dropped to third (8-4-10). Kazakhstan stand in
fourth place with three golds, four silvers and five bronzes, while
Mongolia were the only other country on the tally with one
bronze.
(Xinhua News Agency February 2, 2007)
