BEIJING, Dec. 6 (Xinhuanet) -- Chinese Wang Meng clinched the title in the women's 500 meters at the short track speedskating World Cup here on Saturday.

    Chinese Fu Tianyu and Wang Meng easily advanced into the 500 meters final as first and second in their groups. In the final, Wang and Fu led from the beginning, leaving hardly any chances for Bulgarian veteran Evgenia Radanova.

    Wang clocked a winning time of 44.658 seconds, followed by Fu in 44.734 seconds. World record holder Radanova took bronze at 44.744.

    "I showed my real strength and beating Radanova makes me feel much more confident," said Wang.

    Radanova, who is focusing more on cycling in which she has earned a ticket for the Athens Olympic Games, said, "I'm very happy, because the two Chinese girls are really strong."

    China experienced a grief in the men's 500 meters as no host skater made it to the final. South Korean Song Suk-Woo beat world record holder Jeff Scholten from Canada to finish first in 42.477 seconds.

    Scholten came second in 42.533 seconds, and the third place was taken by Nishitani Takafumi from Japan. American Apolo Anton Ohno,the 1,500 meters winner at the Salt Lake City Games, ended fourth.

    Scholten, apparently satisfied with the silver medal, said, "500 meters is the toughest, and Song got a really good race."

    In the semi-finals, Chinese veteran Li Jiajun was disqualified while his young teammate Li Ye fell down as a result of obtrusive surpass.

    The finals of the men's and women's 1,000m, men's and women's 3,000m, women's 3,000 relay and men's 5,000m relay will take place on Sunday. Enditem