East Asian Games Round-up: Sino-Japanese Duel in Swimming PoolThe duel between China and Japan in the swimming pool was in full swing on Tuesday when the East Asian Games entering the second day, with each winning five golds out of the pool.Japanese had the better of the day after their quartet pocketed the third gold of the day in the pool though they finished second behind Australia, who took part in the Games here with a guest status, in the men's 4x200 meters freestyle relay. Susumu Tabuchi led a 1-2 Japanese finish, winning the men's 400m individual medley in 4:18.18, with compatriot Jiro Miki taking the silver in 4:22.08. Takashi Yamamoto won for Japan in men's 100m butterfly, timing 53.12 seconds. With Japan dominating the men's events, China swept the two golds in the women's competitions. Yang Yu, a 16-year-old World Cup short-course champion, swam to 1:59.93 to win the women's 200m freestyle, while Qi Hui, the world record holder in the women's 200m breaststroke, won her specialty in a time of 2:25.33. But the unbeatable Chinese divers left little space for the Japanese when world champion Yu Zhuocheng won the men's one-meter springboard title with a total of 447.90 points, while Japan's Kiichiro Miyamoto finished third behind Chinese Liu Ben. Li Na took the women's platform title with a total of 587.61 points, ahead of compatriot Cai Yuyan. Li outpointed third-placed Takiri Miyazaki of Japan by more than 100 points. Li Hongli kept China's run in weightlifting with a career-high 362.5kg in total in his win of the men's 77kg, while Xiong Meiying of China won the gold medal of the women's 63kg category. In wrestling, Wang Hui added a gold medal to China's medal tally as he triumphed in the Greco-Roman 54kg class after he beat Askar Zhursymbayev of Kazakhstan in the final. Earlier in the women's 68kg freestyle final, Yang Yanli of China beat Tomoe Miyamoto of Japan to take the title. Chinese gymnasts almost wrapped up 1-2-3 finishes in both the men's and women's all-around events. In the women's field, Dong Fangxiao overtook teammates Bai Chunyue and Qi Linzi in the last rotation to take the gold with a total of 37.150 points. Qi Linzi finished second at 27.075 while Bai Chunyue faded to third at 36.937. Olympic champion Yang Wei and new-comer Li Dezhi gave China a one-two finish in the men's all-around competitions with Yang Wei taking the gold with 56.925 points. Hiroyuki Tomita of Japan finished third at 55.350 points. The 2.25-meter Yao Ming intimidated his opponents with his sky-high blocks in China's 108-105 win over Kazakhstan in men's basketball. The 21-year-old center had 14 points, 13 rebounds and delivered seven blocks. Australia kept unbeaten run with a 120-86 win over South Korea, while Chinese Taipei edged off Mongolia 109-104. The Australian women's counterpart also held off the hot-shooting South Korea in a 76-68 win. China thrashed Kazakhstan with a 111-77 win, while Japan defeated Chinese Taipei 74-66 in other games. China have a total of 21 gold medals, 9 silver and 14 bronze medals while Japan have 13 gold, 19 silver and 13 bronze, followed by South Korea in the third place at 11-12-9. |
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