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China reap gold harvest in Harbin

By Lei Lei (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-02-24 11:21

HARBIN, Heilongjiang province: China's winter sports athletes have won a record 11 gold medals at the ongoing Winter Universiade in Harbin after only six days of competition, with the country's short track speed skaters and freestyle aerial skiers adding four more golds Monday.

Liu Qiuhong sprints to win the women's 1,000m short track speed skating event at the 24th Winter Universiade Monday in Harbin. [Agencies]

Liu Qiuhong added the 1,000m crown to her 500m gold to pace the women's team while the men won the 5,000m relay to underscore their rise from underachievers to local heroes.

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Jia Zongyang posted the final win of the day for China in the men's free skiing aerials.

China's coaches regard these de facto world varsity games as a litmus test for the country's chances of breaking into the top ten on the medal table at next year's Vancouver Winter Games. If the current trophy haul is anything to go by, Olympic success is waiting in the wings. China finished 14th at the 2006 Turin Olympics and only managed three gold medals at the previous Universiade.

In the women's 1,500m short track finals - long considered the chink in China's women's skater's armor - Liu and teammate Zhou Yang led from the beginning by holding two South Korean finalists at bay.

Liu won the race in one minute and 31.657 seconds while Zhou settled for silver followed by Jung Ba-ra of Korea.

The two Chinese women also spearheaded the team's 3,000m relay effort, clocking a winning time of 4:18.676 to edge ahead of neighbors and archrivals Korea. Canada took bronze.

"The victory boosted our confidence," said Sun Linlin, one of the relay team members. "Now we know that South Koreans are not that strong and we are powerful enough to beat them."

On the men's side, China came from the behind to grab gold in the demanding relay when Korea stumbled in the 13th lap of the 45-lap race. Canada finished second.

"We are very excited to beat Korea in the finals," said Gao Ming, one of the men's relay team. "Each of us has worked very hard for this."

Korea's Lee Seung-hoon won his third gold medal with a dominating display in the 1,000m.

With the short track events wrapping up Monday, China and Korea divided the spoils evenly with five gold medals apiece.

Chinese team leader Wang Chunlu said expectations were high for the coming Olympics but more attention to detail was required for the skaters to step up their game.

"We have to further raise the overall ability of our skaters and pay attention to more details," said Wang, who also ranks as a former Winter Olympic silver medalist. "Through attending more competitions, we will continue to build up the confidence of the team. I hope my fellow skaters can realize my dream (of Olympic gold)."

In the snow events, Jia Zongyang led a Chinese sweep of the men's freestyle aerials. The 18-year-old collected 239.40 points over two jumps for his first title at an international competition. Liu Zhongqing and Wu Chao finished second and third with 234.91 and 222.89 respectively.

Favorite Vladimir Lebedev of Russia made a costly mistake while landing the first jump that saw the Turin Olympic bronze medalist finish seventh.

"(Lebedev) lowered the difficulty level of his jumps but he still didn't do that well," said a shocked Jia. "Whereas I did what I normally do and this time it paid off. Hopefully I can keep on this track and book my ticket to Vancouver."