Rowing Roundup: China Faces Challenge from Japan

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, September 30, 2002

Rowing Roundup: China Faces Challenge from Japan

China met tough challenges from their Japanese opponents as the rowing competition of the Asian Games kicked off Monday at Nakdong River Rowing Courses.

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China met tough challenges from their Japanese opponents as the rowing competition of the Asian Games kicked off Monday at Nakdong River Rowing Courses.

Unchallenged China, who has been dominating the Asian rowing for long and swept all the 11 gold medals from the last Asiad in Bangkok, are facing their toughest test on the first day of the competition, as Japan's lightweight rowers appeared to be stronger than they ever expected.

Zhu Zhifu, China's hope to gain the gold from men's lightweight competitions led the half distance but failed to hold on his brunt.

The 23-year-old Chinese finished seven minutes 16.27 seconds in the heat, three seconds behind his Japanese rival Hitoshi Hase, who finished 6th in the Sydney Olympics in 2000.

"Zhu Zhifu lacks international experience. He hoped to beat the Japanese in the first 500 meters! What a naive guy! His opponent is not child but a veteran who has good results from the Olympics," said the Chinese team manager Wei Di.

Zhu surged ahead in the first 500 meters in which he got three seconds' advantage, but the Japanese veteran stormed past him after half distance and didn't hand him any chance till the end.

"I was too anxious to beat him. I tried to finish the fight in the first 1,000 meters by crabbing his rhythm," said Zhu Zhifu. "But I know I was wrong when he began to sprint, at that moment my strength had been used up. I failed to stop him surpassing me." he sounded a little bit disappointed.

Wei said it might be a good thing for the young rower.

" It's a good thing for him. As long as he finds his own rhythm and thinks much of his opponent, he could win the gold, " said Wei.

Fielding 34 rowers, China vowed to win more than 10 gold medals from Busan Asian Games slated for September 29 to October 14. Only suspense comes from the men's lightweight competitions as Japan virtually have some advantages.

Chinese strong women didn't find any targets during the first day's heats and they are supposed to sweep all the six golds from the women's events.

"Our women rowers didn't meet any resistance today." said Wei.

All the rowers from Asian powerhouse China and Japan eased into semifinals to be held on Tuesday at the same venue, while some South Korean and Kazakhstan rowers seemed to be competitive for medals.

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