Two Asian Records Fall at Chinese National Swimming Championships

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, October 29, 2002

Two Asian Records Fall at Chinese National Swimming Championships

Chinese swimmers broke two Asian records, both in the non-Olympic events, after the four-day National Championships on Monday.

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Chinese swimmers broketwo Asian records, both in the non-Olympic events, after the four-day National Championships here on Monday.

Ouyang Kunpeng, who finished fourth in the men's 100m backstroke in the Asian Games three weeks ago, clocked 25.85 seconds in the 50m back, slicing off the previous Asian mark set by Atsushi Nishikori of Japan by 0.11 on Sunday night.

Three-time Asian champion Chen Hua, winner in the women's 800m and runner-up in 400m freestyle in Busan, set the Asian record for the 1,500m freestyle in 16 minutes 13.01 seconds, which bettered the previous mark set by herself 1.5 seconds.

Ouyang, who was tipped the only gold contender from Chinese men's swimmers before the Asian Games but faded in his favorite 100m back, said he wants to regain confidence after his disappointing Busan trip.

"It was a nightmare. I failed to grab a medal while other male swimmers won seven unexpected gold medals for China. I want to prove myself this time. I am happy that I did not allow the chanceto slip away from my hands," said the 20-year-old.

About 300 swimmers competed in the four-day Chinese national championships in which most of the events were won by gold medalists in the Asiad, including world champion Luo Xuejuan, five-gold medalist Xu Yanwei, women's 200m freestyle specialist Yang Yuand men's underdog winners Wu Peng, Yu Cheng and Chen Zuo.

The Chinese national team head coach Zhao Ge said:"The performance of the whole competition is better than what we expected. We have two Asian records, despite in the non-Olympic events.

"Most of the Asiad swimmers kept their good form while some of them improved their career-bests after the congested Asian Games, provincial games and the national championships during the last 20days," he said.

China trounced long-time rivals Japan with 20-11 on the gold medal tally in Busan, seven more than what they got four years ago for a 13-15 upset to Japan in Bangkok, Thailand.

It is the first time for China to dominate the Asiad pool since 1990 when they sealed 23 golds against Japan's seven in Beijing.

"It became the history. We need to look ahead and improve ourselves for the 2004 Athens and 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Japan is still a respectful rival," the head coach said.

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