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US Wins 4 Golds in Athletics, Fights Losing Battle against China
The United States reaped four gold medals in track and field and two in swimming at the World University Games on Wednesday, but the five-time overall leaders can't prevent China from topping the final medal tally when the Games ends on September 1.
China swept 10 golds from track and field, fencing, tennis, table tennis and diving to boost gold collection to 45, leaving the United States only a mathematical chance of catching up with three days to go.
Andrew Pierce and Demetria Washington gave the United States the men's and women's 400m sprint titles and Americans athletes also triumphed in the 3,000m steeplechase and women's long jump.
Washington stormed home in 51.22 seconds in the women's 400m final and Piece snatched the men's one-lap sprint in 45.34.
"There are still three more days to go so we still have a chance to defend the title," said Pierce.
But Pierce has already found an excuse for a fateful US loss in a battle for the Games' overall title.
"We have a big team here but we are not competing in all the sports here," he said.
American Anthony Famiglletti led for most of the 3,000m steeplechase, lost the lead to Jakub Cazaja about 600 meters out and then overtook the Polish champion going over the last barrier to win in 8 minutes, 21.97 seconds.
Miguel Pate of the United States won the women's long jump with a leap of 8.07 meters, edging Namibian Stephan Louw and Botswana's Gable Garenamotse.
China walked away with two track and field olds as Gao Hongmiao won the women's 10km walk in a meet record of 43.20 seconds and Gao Shuying cleared 4.52 meters for the women's pole vault title.
Gao beat second-placed Susana Feitor of Portugal by 20 minutes, with Olympic champion Wang Liping in third place in 44.01.
Aleksander Tammert got Estonia's first gold when he threw 65.19 in the men's discus and Spaniard Pedro Esteso won the men's 1,500m in 3:43.98.
In the other athletics finals, Russia's Alexei Krovtsov took the men's high jump with a best leap of 2.28 meters, Italy's Lorenzo Cavillero won the men's 20km race in 1:24.42, Australian Jane Jamieson snatched the women's heptathlon with 6,041 points, Cuban Osleidys Menendez grabbed the women's javelin and Turkey's Sureyya Ayhan won the women's 1,500m.
In swimming, Japan lifted three golds and the United States got two.
Japanese Reiko Nakamura, Yuko Sakaguchi and Yuko Nakanishi won the women's 200m backstroke, 200m breaststroke and 200m butterfly respectively.
American Clay Kirkland took the men's 200m freestyle event and his teammates won the men's 4x100 medley relay.
Igor Chervynskiy of Ukraine claimed the top honor at the men's freestyle on the last day of swimming competition.
The United States topped the final swimming tally with nine golds, 11 silvers and seven bronzes, followed by Ukraine with a 6- 3-2 record, Japan 4-5-8 and China 4-3-4.
China won four diving golds Tuesday night to complete a clean sweep of 12 diving events.
Tian Liang and Hu Jia took the men's 10m platform synchronized diving, and Yang Lan and Li Rongjuan got the women's 3m springboard synchronized title.
China also bagged the men's and women's team diving titles.
The host country made a clean sweep in table tennis too, taking seven golds after world top player Wang Liqin got the men's singles title and Zhang Yining and Niu Jianfeng took the women's doubles event Tuesday night.
Wang Liqin, world singles champion and Olympic doubles gold medalist, crushed Chinese Taipei's Chuan Chih-Yuan 3-0 in the men's singles final and Zhang Yining and Niu Jianfeng won the women's doubles final with a 2-1 victory over South Korea's Ryu Ji- Hye and Kim Moo-Kyo.
Russia claimed the rhythmic gymnastics team gold, beating China into second place and Japan third.
In tennis finals, Mexican pair Carlos Lozano and Juan Arredondo won gold in the men's doubles with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 win over Pavel Kudrnak and Tomas Macharacek of the Czech Republic.
Li Na and Li Ting, China's top female tennis pair, clinched the women's doubles title, beating South Korea's Kim Eun-Ha and Kim Mi- Ok 6-4, 6-4.
In the team epee fencing finals, France downed Italy 45-27 for the men's gold and China edged Russia 42-34 for the women's crown.
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