China Enlarges Lead in East Asian Games Medal TableChina won 13 more gold medals on Thursday to enlarge the lead over hosts Japan in the East Asian Games medal table.China now has won 53 gold medals, 21 more than Japan. South Korea was ranked third with 17. The 13 gold medals China won on Thursday came from athletics, weightlifting, swimming and judo. China again became the big winners in track and field, taking nine out of 13 gold medals at stake. The events are the men's and women's 20km walk, men's 110m hurdles, men's and women's 400m, men 's triple jump, men's shot put, men's javelin throw and the women' s 100m. Among the nine newly-crowned champions, triple jumper Gu Junjie is the youngest, turning 16 on May 5. Gu jumped to the title- winning distance of 16.65 meters at the sixth and final attempt. As the oldest at the age of 33, Liu Hao took the men's shot put title with a throw of 18.70 meters. Japan only got two golds in the women's high jump and the 3, 000m steeplechase. Kazakhstan also won the golds in the men's 100m and decathlon. While having a unsatisfactory performance in athletics, Japan kept winning more golds in the swimming pool. Junko Onishi won the women's 100m butterfly, Kosuke Kitajima took the men's 200m breaststroke while the Japanese quartet touched home first in the 4x100m freestyle relay. China and South Korea each won a swimming gold on Thursday. Luo Xuejuan of China beat compatriot and 200m breaststroke world record holder Qi Hui to take the women's 100m breaststroke event. Han Kyu-Chul is Thursday's only surprise in the pool as the South Korean pulled away to win the men's 400m freestyle. It is also the first swimming gold for South Korea at the current East Asian Games. The weightlifting competitions concluded on Thursday. China added two more golds to garner a total of 11 gold medals in the 15- category sport. South Korea also won two titles on Thursday and increased its gold tally to four in the sport. Judo competitions opened on Thursday with South Korea taking two while Japan and China each having one gold medal. |
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