Hong Kong wins first gold in Guangzhou Asiad
Hong Kong shared the spotlight with hosts China on the first day of competition of the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou on Saturday.
Lee Wai Sze gave the Chinese Special Administrative Region their first gold medal of the meet by topping the women's 500m time trial at the Guangzhou Velodrome.
The Hong Kong rider posted a winning time of 33.945 seconds. She clocked 19.209 in the first 250m before posting a time of 14.736 in the second 250m to set a new Asian record. Lee surpassed the previous record of 34 seconds set by China's Jiang Yonghua in
Kunming in 2002.
China's Guo Shuang finished second with a time of 34.152 while Chinese Taipei's Hsiao Mei-yu claimed the bronze medal in 35.440. Hsiao won her second Asian Games medal after claiming the silver medal in the same discipline four years ago in Doha.
Malaysian Fatehah Mustapa placed fourth despite a sluggish start. Her time of 20.368 in the first 250m was good only for sixth spot but she clocked 15.401 in the second half of the race for a total time of 35.769.
In the men's team sprint qualifying, China topped the three-lap event with a combined time of 44.406 seconds. Zhang Lei, Zhang Miao and Cheng Changsong will vie for the gold medal on Sunday against Japan's Kazunari Watanabe, Yudai Nitta and Kazuya Narita,
who finished second with a combined time of 44.855 seconds.
Malaysia and Iran will dispute the bronze medal after finishing third and fourth, respectively.
In the men's individual pursuit qualifying, South Korean Jang Sun-jae was the top performer after finishing the 4,000m race in 4:27.992. Hong Kong's Cheung King Lok (4:30.858) and China's Li Wei (4:32.336) finished second and third, respectively.
Iranians Alireza Haghi and Amir Zargari finished fourth and fifth after clocking 4:34.503 and 4:34.850, respectively.
Other riders who advanced to the next round were Uzbekistan's Vladimir Tuychiev (4:35.044), China's Wang Mingwei (4:35.987) and South Korean Hwang In-hyeok (4:37.862).
Meanwhile, China's Jiang Fan topped the women's individual pursuit qualifying. She posted a best time of 3:37.497 in the 3,000m race, which is also a new Asian record.
South Koreans Na Ah-reum (3:43.823) and Lee Min-hye (3:44.649) came in second and third, respectively.
China's Wu Chaomei finished fourth with a time of 3:46.282. Chinese Taipei's I Fang-ju (3:49.054) placed fifth followed by Hong Kong's Wong Wan-yiu (3:50.109), Chinese Taipei's Tseng Hsiao-chia (3:54.445) and Thailand's Chanpeng Nontasin (3:54.871).
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