Source: Xinhua
02-24-2009 08:36
Special Report: Harbin 24th Winter UniversiadeHARBIN, Northeast China, Feb. 23 (Xinhua) -- As two powerhouses in the short track speed skating, China and South Korea even split the gold medals on offer at the Harbin Winter Universiade to show their ambition in the next year's Winter Olympics.
On the last day of the short track skating competition, China cruised to take the gold medals in the women's 1,000m, 3,000m relay and the men's 5,000m relay while South Korea dominated in the men's1,000m final.
On the final medal tally, China surpassed South Korea to perch atop with five gold, five silver and two bronze medals, South Korea dropped to second (5-3-5) and Canada stood third (0-2-1).
"South Korea is a very strong rival. The competition between China and South Korea will become more fierce in the Vancouver Winter Olympics," said the team leader Wang Chunlu.
"Skaters learned lessons and collected more experience through the Winter Universiade. And the medals here will boost our confidence to get prepared for the Winter Olympics," she added.
Earlier in the day, Liu Qiuhong, ranked second in the world, beat her teammate Zhou Yang to lift the trophy in the women's 1,000final with 1:31.657 minutes.
