SANYA, April 27 (Xinhua) — After securing another title in the open water swimming mixed 4×1.5km relay on Monday morning, China dominated the discipline by sweeping all three golds.
The relay crew of Zhang Ziyang, Li Xinxuan, Chen Yijing and Liu Peixin captured the gold medal with a time of 1 hour 5 minutes and 26.8 seconds, finishing 1 minute and 5 seconds ahead of silver medalists Vietnam and South Korea.
“The coach had confidence in my ability to compete against male swimmers in the first leg,” said Li, who had claimed the women’s 5km gold two days previously. Among all seven teams, Li was the only female starter. “I did not face intense pressure from opponents today, and I was surprised to keep pace with the male competitors. I maintained a solid racing line and stayed close to the leading pack throughout my leg,” Li continued.
“Starting with a female swimmer was our unique team tactic, which differed from other teams’ strategies, and it paid off perfectly,” said Zhang, who swam China’s final leg.
Following the mixed relay gold, Zhang and Li have now secured two gold medals apiece at the Games, and led China to conclude their open water swimming campaign with three golds and one silver.
Elsewhere along the coastline, Chinese athletes maintained their dominance in the board classes of the sailing competitions, with multiple athletes leading their respective overall standings.
Yan Guoguo won the ILCA 4 girls Race 09, while Cheng Wenyu finished second in the Optimist girls race but retained her overall lead. In Formula Kite, Xue Shiming claimed the men’s Race 13 victory, and Li Shuxuan and Ma Zilin secured a one-two finish in the women’s event to hold the top two overall spots. Wang Yiguo and Chen Yimin won their respective foil windsurfing races to extend their overall leads. Medals in all eight sailing disciplines will be decided on Tuesday.
In other events, the beach handball group stage concluded with China’s men’s team being eliminated from the tournament after losing 2-0 to Iran.
In 3×3 basketball, China’s men’s team cruised to a 21-9 victory over Macao, China in their final group game. Despite finishing third in Group A with a 2-1 record, they advanced to the playoffs. ■
