China leads Beijing 2022 tally as Liu Mengtao bags his 2nd medal
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E-mail Xinhua, March 9, 2022
Liu Mengtao claimed the men's middle distance sitting title on Tuesday to become the first Chinese Para biathlete to win two medals as China keeps leading the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympic medal table.
The 20-year-old finished third in the men's sprint sitting here in his Paralympic debut on the first competition day before he won the gold medal.
"I was nervous on Saturday but I feel much better now. After I missed three shots I thought winning a medal might be impossible for me. But I kept accelerating my speed and my coach also yelled to remind me of the time," said Liu after finishing the 10km race in 30 minutes and 37.7 seconds.
"I'm not good at any of them," he laughed when asked whether his skiing or shooting was better.
Before the awarding ceremony, Liu kept adjusting his cloth while asking the volunteers if his bib number covers the national flag on it.
"I compete for my country, of course the national flag should not be covered," he said.
His teammate Wang Yue added a bronze medal from the women's middle distance vision impaired to China, which sits at the top of the table with 27 medals including eight golds.
In other Para biathlon competitions on Tuesday, Kendall Gretsch of the United States (women's middle distance sitting), Iryna Bui of Ukraine (women's middle distance standing), Vitalii Lukianenko of Ukraine (men's middle distance vision impaired), Mark Arendz of Canada (men's middle distance standing) and Leonie Maria Walter of Germany (women's middle distance vision impaired) won their respective gold medals.
In Para ice hockey, China beat Italy 6-0 in its final preliminary round for its third successive victory that confirmed its place in the qualifying finals on Wednesday.
Yu Jing made her Paralympic debut as the only female ice hockey player in the competition on International Women's Day.
"I hope my experience will encourage more girls pay attention to and participate in Para ice hockey to enjoy happiness and change lives," the 38-year-old said.
In wheelchair curling, defending champion China scored five points in the second end to build an early lead, beating the United States 10-2 for its fourth straight win.
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