Chinese swimmers make waves in Asian Games
Day 3 of the 2010 Asian Games swimming competition was again an all-China show. Chinese swimmers won five of the seven gold medals at stake on Monday to add to their bountiful harvest in the quadrennial
multi-sport meet.
Gao Chang opened the evening's final session with a victory in the women's 50m backstroke. She touched the wall in 27.45 seconds to beat her season-best 27.54 which she set at the National Championships
in August.
Aya Terakawa of Japan finished second in 27.86 while another Chinese Xu Tianlongzi placed third in 28.14.Chinese fans were celebrating again shortly after, this time after Lu Zhiwu topped the men's 50m
freestyle final.
The 21-year-old clocked 22.37 seconds to edge Japanese rivals Masayuki Kishida (22.45) and Ranmaru Harada (22.84).
China won a third-straight gold medal at the Aoti Aquatics Centre courtesy of Shao Yiwen in the women's 400m freestyle.
She posted a winning time of 4:05.58, comfortably ahead of compatriot Liu Jing (4:08.89). South Korean Seo Youn-jeong was a distant third in 4:14.50.
China's fourth gold medal of the night was won by Jiao Liuyang in the women's 200m butterfly. Her winning time of 2:05.79 is just short of her season-best of 2:05.46.
Japan's Natsumi Hoshi won the silver medal in 2:07.96 while South Korean Choi Hye-ra secured the bronze in 2:08.39.
The hosts closed out the third day of competition with a victory in the men's 4x200m freestyle relay. The quartet of Zhang Lin, Jiang Haiqi, Li Yunqi and Sun Yang posted a winning time of 7:07.68.
Japan, represented by Yuki Kobori, Sho Uchida, Shunsuke Kuzuhara and Takeshi Matsuda, finished second with a time of 7:10.39. The South Korean squad of Bae Joon-mo, Jang Sang-jin, Lee Hyun-seung and Park
Tae-hwan placed third in 7:24.14.
Japan claimed the two other gold medals up for grabs.
Ryo Tateishi bagged the men's 100m breaststroke title in 1:00.38, just short of his season-best of 59.84.
"I felt I had a good swim and am honestly delighted. I gained good momentum right after the start and I got my tactics right," Tateishi told Kyodo News.
Kazakhstan's Vlad Polyakov settled for the silver medal in 1:01.03 while local bet Wang Shuai finished third in 1:01.71. Two-time double Olympic champion Kosuke Kitajima of Japan was a disappointing fourth
at 1:01.85.
Ryosuke Irie easily won the men's 200m butterfly final. He clocked 1:55.45 to beat Chinese swimmers Zhang Fenglin (1:57.53) and Cheng Feiyi (1:58.93).
"I had a good race. This is going to be a good stepping stone toward next year. Now I'm confident I can improve my time next year," the world silver medallist said.
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