The Beijing Olympics' rowing regatta concluded its second day's races in Beijing Sunday with good performances of Chinese, Danish, Australian crew and an unexpected postponement of men's and women's eight races by a thunderstorm.

There were heats of seven boat classes on the Sunday's agenda. But only five were competed due to bad weather conditions.

China participated in four of the five boat classes competed in the Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park and all of the four boats were qualified for the final or semifinals.

The Sunday afternoon's races kicked off with lightweight women's double sculls (LW2x), with six boats entering the semifinals. Xu Dongxiang and Yu Hua from China finished the heat with a result of 6:57.58.

"The result is Okay since it's only a heat round," said Xu. "Only if we advanced to the next round."

"The real form can not be judged in the first round since we are not grouped with strong rivals. Once in the semis and finals when the competition becomes more stiff, and we will find who will be the strongest," added she.

China also did quite well in lightweight men's four (LM4-). The four-man team was the first to reach the finish line. The Chinese crew finished the race with a result of 5 minutes 51.30 seconds, the first of heat 1 in the boat class, followed by boats of Britain and Australia.

"We rowed as expected and we did it quite well," Tian Jun, one of the crew, said soon after the race.

Their remarkable performance in the race was hailed by foreign rowers. "They were very brave crew. Very dynamic," British rower James Lindsay-Fynn said in the mixed zone, adding that the Chinese crew were the favorite for the event.

In the men's quadruple sculls (M4x), nine boats from countries including Australia, Poland and Ukraine have qualified for the semifinals.

In the event, the Australian team did quite well. They won in heat 1 and created the world's best time in the event with a result of 5:36.20.

There is no world record for rowing events because of differences in competition venues and widely different conditions under which the events are held.

"It just felt so good out there. If it is the world's fastest time, then that's a bonus," Australian rower Chris Morgan said after the race.

On the result, he said:"It's an ideal start to the competition, although it's pretty wide open. We want to get a few runs on the board."

There was also pity on Sunday. An approaching thunderstorm in later afternoon forced the remaining men's and women's eight races to be postponed.

(Xinhua News Agency August 10, 2008)