Kuwait Times

Published Date: December 10, 2009

HONG KONG: Chinese women and Japanese men split the eight gold medals in the swimming pool yesterday at the East Asian Games. After four days of swimming events, Japan holds a slight lead with 17 golds to China's 15. China won in all four women's events: the 100-meter backstroke, the 400 freestyle, the 200 breaststroke and the 4x100 freestyle relay. World championship bronze medalist Gao Chang set a games-record of 59.77 seconds in the 100 backstroke.

The Japanese men won the 50 breaststroke, the 100 freestyle, the 100 butterfly and the 100 backstroke, with world championship silver medalist Ryosuke Irie setting a games record of 52.76 seconds in the last event. The Chinese and Japanese extended their rivalry to the volleyball court, with the two countries facing off in both the men's and women's gold medal matches yesterday. China narrowly won the men's final 3-2 but swept the women's final 3-0.

Elsewhere, Japan sewed up men's tennis gold, with both Tatsuma Ito and Yuichi Sugita winning their semifinals. Chinese and Taiwanese pairings moved into the men's doubles final. In women's doubles, Taiwan's Hsieh Su-wei, a seven-time doubles winner on the WTA Tour, and her partner Chuang Chia-jung beat a Chinese team 2-1 to advance to the final, where they will play a South Korean pairing. In squash, Hong Kong continued its domination, clinching gold in the men's and women's team competitions by beating
Japan 2-0 in both finals, adding to its golds in men's and women's singles.

In weightlifting, Pak Hyon Suk of North Korea won the women's 63-kilogram title and Kim Kwang-hoon of South Korea took out the men's 77-kilogram category. Lu Yong of China was the champion in the men's 85-kilogram category. In the women's badminton team semis, China beat Hong Kong 3-1 and Taiwan edged South Korea 3-2. After Day 5, China is still on top of the medals standings with 38 golds. Japan is second with 29 and South Korea third with 21. Hong Kong is fourth with 10 golds. - AP