Mon, July 13, 2009
BELGRADE, July 8 (Xinhua) -- China narrowly led the World University Games medal table on Wednesday after Japan and the United States closed in on the leaders with impressive victories in the swimming pool.
With a current haul of 13 golds, 16 silvers and 10 bronzes, China stayed at the top of the standings, with South Korea in second place with 11 golds. Japan and the U.S. were close behind on nine and eight respectively.
China captured a gold medal on Day Seven through diver Dong Jun in the women's 3-meter springboard, which was disrupted by down powers.
Dong, who had earlier won the one-meter springboard title, earned the highest mark throughout the five-round final for 333.65 points in total. Laura Aleida Soto Sanchez and Paola Milagros Espinosa, both from Mexico, finished 2-3.
"I was not disturbed by the interruption," said the 19-year-old Dong. "To my satisfaction, I well executed all my routine without making mistakes."
So far, China has won five gold medals out of seven diving events, which are all held outdoors.
Whitney Sprague of the United States had no peer in the women's 800m freestyle final as she led the race at every turn to finish the race with a winning time of 8:32.71.
Compatriot Ava Ohlgren continued her strong form thus far with a gold-medal winning time of 2:12.07 in the women's 200m individual medley event. The swim gave her the Games record, downing Katilin Sandeno's 2007 record of 2:12.13.
Ukraine's Igor Borysik smashed the Games record in the men's 200m breaststroke with a time of 2:08.73, and Poland's Pawel Korzeniowski also eclipsed the Games record with a top time of 1:54.30.
World record holder Shiho Sakai of Japan used a strong back half to capture the women's 100m backstroke title in 1:00.30, and Japan dominated with a 1-2 finish in the men's 50m backstroke final as Junya Koga, a gold medalist at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, clocked a blistering time of 24.63.
"We have a strong team here as we take the Universiade as a warm-up for this month's swimming world championships in Rome," said Japanese coach Tsuyoshi Kojima.
Chinese Taipei fielded finalists in the mixed doubles table tennis competition, with Chiang Hung-Chieh and Huang Yi-Hua clinching the gold.
Cruz Rolando Palacios of Honduras was crowned the fastest man as he clocked 10.30 seconds to win the men's 100 meters, beating Ibrahim Seoud Amr of Egypt by just a hundredth of a second. Masashi Eriguchi of Japan came third in 10.33 seconds.
Lithuania's Lina Grincikaite stormed to a comfortable victory in the women's 100m in a personal best time of 11.31 seconds, well ahead of Momoko Takahashi of Japan in 10.52 and Portuguese Sonia Tavares in 10.54.
In soccer, both women's semis were decided on penalty kicks after the matches ended in draws. Japan edged Britain 6-5 in the shootout while South Korea downed France 4-3. The winners will meet in Friday's final.
Italy's men's team beat Japan 2-1 in the semifinal and will play Ukraine, which overcame Britain 6-5 on penalty shootout, in the gold medal match.
In volleyball, favorites Serbia delighted home fans with 25-17, 25-17 and 25-15 victory over Poland in the women's semifinals, and in the final will face Italy, the 29-17, 25-17, 25-11 winners over Russia.
A total of 20 gold medals are up for grabs on Thursday.
