| Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, November 16, 2001 |
Liaoning Judokas Dominate National Games |
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Olympic gold medalist Sun Fuming defended her glory in the Day One judo competitions at the 9th National Games Friday, while another Olympic champion endured her defeat.
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Olympic gold medalist Sun Fuming defended her glory in the Day One judo competitions at the 9th National Games Friday, while another Olympic champion endured her defeat.
Sun, representing Northeast China's Liaoning Province, beat Tong Wen of Tianjin by an ippon to clinch the gold medal of women's over-78kg category.
The Liaoning judokas dominated the first day's matches here, sweeping three out of the total four gold metals on offer. Li Yanfu overpowered Zhou Airou of Hunan to win women's under-78 class title, and Pan Song, 26-year-old bronze medalist at the 1997and 1999 World Judo Championships, overcame his unfavorable healthcondition to edge out Zhong Gang of Henan for the gold in men's over-100kg category.
The men's under-100kg gold medal went to Aotegenbate of Inner Mongolia. "I feel more excited at this gold of the National Games than atthe Olympic Games, although it was comparatively easier for me to compete at home," said Sun Fuming at the press conference after the final. Sun won the title at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. "I was in better shape than Tong in terms of competing skills and psychological condition, and I'm more experienced," said Sun about her victory.
"Sun Fuming and Li Yanfu are very excellent athletes," said LiuYongfu, head coach of the Liaoning judo team. "Their victory todayshould be attributed to their tenacious training."
In women's under-78 class, the 2000 Sydney Olympic champion Tang Lin, representing Sichuan, suffered a major setback as she lost to Wei Qingfang from the People's Liberation Army in the preliminaries and fell to the eighth place.
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