Liu Xiang stormed home to win the men's 110 m hurdles at the 4th East Asian Games today, with teammate Shi Dongpeng taking silver. Chinese Mainland's Song Aimin and Ma Shuli also took first and second place in the women's discus.
Also this morning, Chinese Mainland won gold and bronze in the men's high jump, golds in the women's 20 km walk and 200 m, and the men's 20 km walk, silver in the men's 200 m and bronze in the women's long jump.
Chinese Mainland's hopes of winning all nine track and field golds yesterday were dashed when they failed to place at all in the men's 10,000 m, but they managed to take the top two medals in five athletic events.
Japan's Nakamura Yuki won the men's 10,000 m, 0.03 seconds ahead of South Korea's Lee Duhaeng. Iao Kuanun of China's Macao took the bronze.
In the women's shot put, Chinese Mainland's Li Meiju won the gold, followed by Japan's Toyonaga Yoko and Chinese Mainland's Liu Yingfan.
Chinese Mainland took both golds and silvers in the women's high jump, hammer, triple jump and 100 m and the men's discus. They won gold in the men's 100 m and women's 10,000 m too.
Qin Wangping won the women's 100 m with a time of 11.65 seconds. Teammate Shu Yan (11.76) and Japan's Suzuki Ayumi (11.95) finished second and third.
Qin's time was 0.31 seconds more than her effort at China's 10th National Games and 0.35 more than her personal best, and she said coming into the finals without having run any heats might have affected her performance.
In the men's 100 m, Hu Kai beat Japan's Kawabata Shingo and Wang Shihwen of Chinese Taipei in an event that saw two false starts. Their times were 10.40s, 10.54s and 10.63s, respectively.
Unlike most of his teammates Hu is not a product of the country's sports system but a student at Tsinghua University, where he was admitted not for his athletics prowess but his academic record.
He had come second at the National Games with a time of 10.31s.
He said the two false starts gave him a chance to focus better, but that running after a major competition had affected his performance.
(China Daily, Xinhua News Agency November 2, 2005)
