Chinese Skaters Bag Two Golds at World Cup

Chinese skaters made sure of both golds in the men's and women's 500 meters events of the short-track speedskating World Cup Series in Changchun on Saturday.

Cheered on by a full house crowd of 8,000, Li Jiajun came from behind to beat Satoru Terao of Japan, who took an early lead but was surpassed by Li at the third lap, and win the men's 500m title with a time of 42.873 seconds.

"I think all the skaters in the final have the ability to win and I am just a bit luckier today," the 24-year-old Changchun native said.

South Korean Kim Dong-Sung clocked 42.959 to take the silver while the bronze went to Terao.

Wang Chunlu led her opponents throughout to capture the women's 500m gold in 45.413 seconds.

"Although I kept the lead all the way, the race was really tough and it is difficult to skate under the pressure of an enthusiastic home crowd," Wang said.

Min-Kyung Choi of South Korea won the silver in 45.651 and Canadian Annie Perreault the bronze with a time of 52.202.

Pre-event favorite Yang Yang (A) of China ended up being disqualified because of impeding.

The three-day event goes into the final day on sunday, with eight gold medals on offer. (Xinhua)


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