China collected two gold medals in weightlifting and one in gymnastics to top the medal table after the first-day competitions at the 3rd East Asian Games.

Wu Wenxiong lifted a new junior world record of 165kg in the clean and jerk of men's 56kg class. He totaled 287.5kg for the title, 2.5kg more than silver medallists Wang Shin-yuan of Chinese Taipei.

Another Chinese strongman Wu Jean won comfortably in the men's 62kg category. He snatched 140kg and lifted 160kg in clean and jerk, beating South Korean Kim Young-tae by a margin of 25kg.

Only three lifters took part in the 62kg class contests. Taming Kenji of Japan had three failed lifts in snatch and was disqualified.
China Tops Medal Table after First-Day Competition at East Asian Games
China's other gold medal came from gymnastics. China fielded a star-studded team in the men's team event, with five out of six gymnasts members of Olympic gold medal winning team.

The Chinese team were far superior than the other four participating team, winning the team with a total of 225.550 points.

Japan took the silver at 219.825 points, South Korea were third with 215.925 points.

But it was not all good news for China on Sunday as their women's basketball team lost to Japan 91-106 and four athletes in taekwondo failed to win a single gold.

The newly-reshuffled Chinese women' s basketball team, which beat Australia on Saturday, were upset by their Japanese rivals.

The Chinese team, much taller than the counterparts, were superior in rebounds but were out-paced by the hosts. Their shooting percentage was also far lower than the Japanese team.

As the women's basketball competitions adopt a single round-robin format, the loss means it will be difficult for China to win the gold.

The first-day taekwondo competitions had four gold medals on offer while China failed to take a single one.

South Korea dominated the men's competitions by winning the two gold medals. Chinese Taipei and Japan split the two women's titles.

Chen Shih-hsin of Chinese Taipei stunned her South Korean opponent Yoon Song-hee in the women's 49kg class final with combination of fierce kicks. She won the bout 3-1 for the title--the first gold medal at the 3rd East Asian Games.

The other women's event on Sunday was won by Minako Hatakeyama of Japan, who beat China's world champion Wang Su in the final of the 57kg category.

With a small field of participants at the taekwondo competition, Minako Hatakeyama only made two outings before winning the title.

After the first-day competitions, China top the medal table with three gold, one silver and three bronze medals. South Korea place second with 2 gold, 3 silver and 2 bronze medals. Chinese Taipei rank third with 2 gold, 1 silver and 3 bronze medals.

(People's Daily 05/21/2001)