China dominates universal relay on Para Athletics Championships Day 8

KOBE, Japan, May 24 (Xinhua) -- Team China wowed the Universiade Memorial Stadium in Kobe with a record-breaking victory in the universal 4x100m relay at the Para Athletics Championships here on Friday.

Zhou Guohua, Wang Hao, Wen Xiaoyan and Hu Yang teamed up for a storming victory, clocking 45.54 seconds in the evening session to win the final, refreshing both the championship record and Asian record.

In the morning session, the same Chinese quartet won the first heat by setting a new Asian record of 45.66s.

Zhou, a visually impaired female sprinter who ran the first leg of the race, expressed confidence and pride in the lineup after the triumph.

"Our teamwork and mutual trust better our relay performance each time. Although we didn't break the world record this time, we surpassed ourselves. I have great confidence in our team," she said.

"I think we performed quite well today. The wind was strong, but our teamwork was very smooth," said China's fourth-leg wheelchair racer Hu, who cheered at the top of his lungs when passing the finish line.

Noting the team was just 0.02 seconds short of the world record, the athlete noted there is still room for improvement. "We will give it our all to compete in Paris," he said.

"We will continue to improve and work together to achieve better results in the upcoming 100 days," added Wen, a T37 athlete who just won her third gold medal during the championships, adding that encouraging words among the teammates always turn into motivation.

In the universal 4x100m relay, each team is required to include athletes of four different classifications, with one visually impaired, one with limb impairment, one with coordination impairment, and a wheelchair racer from the lead to close.

Friday's competitions also witnessed Chinese thrower Xue Enhui bagged the women's discus throw F11 gold medal with a personal best throw of 40.24 meters, while her compatriot Zhang Liangmin took the silver.

Other Chinese silver medalists of the day included Hu Yang in the men's 100m T54, Zhao Yuping of women's shot put F12 and Lan Hanyu of women's 800m T34.

China's Xue Enhui, Zhou Guohua and Liu Panpan won the bronze medals in the women's finals of shot put F12, long jump T11 and 800m T34, respectively.

By Friday, which is the second-last competition day of the nine-day tournament, China continued to top the medal tally with 26 golds, 26 silvers, and 21 bronzes.

The World Championships, held in East Asia for the first time, serves as a qualifier for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. It has attracted over 1,000 athletes from 100 countries and regions competing in 168 events.

A total of 73 Chinese para-athletes are competing in the championships, which runs until May 25. Originally scheduled for 2021, the tournament was postponed twice due to the COVID-19 pandemic.