Records Tumble in Hong Kong

From ESPNstar.com

Eight more golds were decided in the pool and seven competition records fell as China enjoyed a profitable sixth day at the East Asian Games in Hong Kong.

Li Zhesi won the 50m women’s freestyle in a Games record of 24.68 seconds, Cai Li took the men’s version with a best mark of 22.56 seconds and Sun Yang triumphed in the men’s 400m freestyle in a record time of three minutes, 46.16 seconds.

China set a new mark in the 4x100m women’s medley relay as they came home in 3:58.51 while Wang Xinyu claimed the 800m women’s freestyle.

Taiwan’s Cheng Wang-jun finished first in the women’s 400m individual medley and set a new Games record of four minutes 40.21secs while Japan picked up two golds in the shape of Ryusuke Sakata in the men’s 200m butterfly (GR 1:55.23secs) and in the 4x100m men’s medley relay (GR 3:31.71secs).

China also cleaned up on the track and field as athletics made its first appearance. Of the 10 gold medals on offer, China took seven with Japan claiming two and South Korea one.

Yu Wei and Li Yanfei triumphed in the men’s and women’s 20km walk respectively, while Li Ling won the women’s shot putt and Li Jinzhe the men’s long jump.

Jiang Lan took gold in the women’s 200m and Liu Qing in the 800m, while Qin Qiang won the men’s javelin.

Japan’s Kenji Fujimitsu captured the men’s 200m crown while compatriot Ryosuke Awazu claimed the 800m and Korean Lim Eun-ji won the women’s pole vault.

Taiwan picked up three more golds on the tennis court with victories in the women’s singles and doubles and also the mixed doubles.

Chang Kai-chen came from a set down to beat China’s Zhang Shuai in the women’s singles 4-6 7-6 6-2, while Chuang Chia-jung and Hsieh Su-wei collected the doubles title with a 6-0 6-3 success over South Korean duo of Kim So-jung and Lee Jin-a.

Chuang then teamed up with Yi Chu-huan to overcome compatriots Hsieh and Lee Hsin-han 6-3 6-7 7-5 in the mixed doubles but Yi and Lee lost out to Chinese pair of Zhang Ze and Zeng Shao Xuan in the men’s doubles 4-6 6-7.

Japan took gold in the men’s singles as Yuichi Sugita defeated fellow Japanese competitor Tatsuma Ito 6-3 6-1. No golf in Hong Kong though.

Macau’s Zhang Saholing won gold in the women’s 69kg weightlifting category while Cao Lei set a new Games record in the 75kg class with a combined total of 252kg.

Chinese lifter Jiang Hairong also set a new Games record with a combined effort of 374kg in the men’s 94kg competition.

Liu Xiaohui won a sprint finish to take gold in the women’s individual road race while Japan won the men’s team time trial in 1:38:38.34secs, nearly two and a half minutes ahead of China.

China beat Taiwan 3-1 in the women’s badminton team final while Japan and Hong Kong will contest the football gold, Japan beating South Korea 2-1 and the hosts holding their nerve to beat North Korea in a penalty shootout at Hong Kong Stadium after the game had finished 1-1.

In women’s hockey, China and South Korea will fight it out for the gold medal after a 6-0 victory over Taiwan and a 4-2 win over Japan respectively secured their passage.

In the men’s event, Japan went top of the qualifying table on goal difference following a 20-0 rout of Macau with Kazuhiro Tsubouchi netting six goals.

We’ll keep you up to date on golf in Hong Kong when the 2010 season gets underway