South African sprint sensation Oscar Pistorius started his quest for three gold medals on a winning note at the Bird's Nest yesterday.

Pistorius overcame a slow start to win the men's T44 100m sprint in 11.17 sec, about a quarter of a second slower than his world record of 10.91 set last year.

Oscar Pistorius (C) of South Africa waves as he celebrates winning gold in the final of the 100m T44 during the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games at the National Stadium in the Chinese capital on September 9, 2008. [Agencies]

A total of 20 gold medals were on offer yesterday in track and field.

Yesterday yielded a rich harvest of 61 gold medals, the most for any single day during the 11-day event. Host China collected eight, six in track and field and one each in judo and powerlifting, to lift its gold medal total to 16.

Thanks to a strong showing by its cyclists, Britain followed closely on the medals table with 14 gold. The United States was third with 10.

At the Water Cube, Chinese star swimmer Wang Xiaofu's ambition of emulating Michael Phelps' success was crushed when the 21-year-old amputee finished second in the men's S8 100m breaststroke. He now has three medals, in different colors.

With six more events in which he plans to take part, Wang now cannot match his American idol who won an unprecedented eight gold medals at last month's Olympics.

British cyclists continued their gold rush with five more victories at the Laoshan Velodrome, taking their gold medal haul to nine, more than half of the already decided.

On the first day of powerlifting, Nigeria, Ukraine and China shared the three gold medals on offer.

Re-run in wheelchair race

A wheelchair race will be re-contested, although the medals had already been handed out, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) said.

In Monday evening's T-54 5,000m race, several competitors were embroiled in a wheelchair crash and only five athletes finished the race, which was won by Canada's Diane Roy. Britain's Shelly Woods and American Amanda Mcgrory were second and third.

Athletes crash in the women's 5000m T54 final during the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games at the National Stadium in the Chinese capital on September 8, 2008. [Agencies]

A jury of appeal decided that the race should be re-run on Friday in light of "the seriousness of the crash", said IPC athletics chairman Chris Cohen.

"Six athletes were taken out of the race because of the crash," he said. "In the interests of fairness to all concerned, it was decided that race should be held again."

First doping case

Pakistani powerlifter Naveed Ahmed Butt became the first athlete caught for a doping offense and has been kicked out of the Games after testing positive for methandienone metabolites, a steroid, the IPC said in a statement.

The 37-year-old, who had been scheduled to show up in the men's 100kg competition next week, also received a two-year ban.

According to the IPC, the urine sample was taken on Sept 4 in Beijing, two days before the Opening Ceremony.

In the Athens 2004 Paralympics, 680 doping tests were conducted and 10 violations emerged. The IPC has said it plans to carry out 1,100 tests, both in and out of competition, in Beijing.

Xinhua/China Daily