Cai Li defends 50 meter title

The national games drew a record of 525 swimmers from China's 24 provincial teams,Chinese Hong Kong, and the PLA team in the eight-day swimming competition. Cai Li defended his title and bagged the men's 50m freestyle gold on Friday. The swimmer from China's eastern Zhejiang faced Asian record holder Shi Runqiang from Guangdong. The 22-year-old Cai Li finished fourth in the previous 100m freestyle, but he would not give up this time. The bronze medalist of the Doha Asian Games led all the way and finished in 22.25 seconds to win the final. Cai Li edged runner-up You Tianyu from Jiangsu province and third-place Huang Shaohua from the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. You touched at 22.29 and Huang clocked in 22.31. Shi Runqiang merely finished fifth with 22.43 seconds. The world record still stands at 21.95.

Cai Li said the 50-meter freestyle was his main event. He commented that he tried to win from the moral aspect and he had to be confident. He admitted that he wasn't at his best in the previous 100-meter final. He should have released all his power to win.

Cai won his first gold medal in the 11th National Games. An 18-year-old Cai won three golds and one bronze at the 10th Games four years ago. His coach Lou Xia could not attend the match due to health problems.