CHANGCHUN, Northeast China, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- China and Japan each took one gold medal in the first day competition of the speedskating where two Asian records were broken at the 6th Asian Winter Games here on Monday.
Wang Fei pulled off the opening victory in the women's 3,000m for China and Hiroki Hirako seized the men's 5,000m title.
In the battle vying for the first gold of the Games, newly-crowned Asian all-round champion Wang, among the last two to compete, clocked in four minutes and 13.08 seconds to win the title, beating the previous Asian record of 4:15.86.
Masako Hozumi of Japan finished second in 4:15.42, also surpassing the previous Asian best set up by her compatriot Nani Nemoto in 2005. Maki Tabata from Japan settled for the bronze in 4:17.00.
Hirako broke the Asian record to lift the men's 5,000m title in6:39.71, improving the previous Asian mark of 6:41.62 set up by Kazakhstan's Dmitriy Babenko who competed side by side against him.
Yeo Sang-Yeop of South Korea came second in 6: 43.34 while Babenko bagged a bronze in 6:43.40.
The 24-year-old Wang from neighboring Heilongjiang province contributed her victory partly to the familiar home speedskating rink.
"I was relaxed as I competed in front of home spectators. It is just my day today," she said. Wang has qualified for the World Championships Netherlands.
Wang's victory gave her coach Liang Linhua a lot of confidence.
"In the Asian Championships, Wang did not adjust well enough but today she apparently reached the peak," said Liang, adding that Wang improved her result by more than four seconds.
Wang lost to Japanese Hozumi in 3,000m with a time of 4:17.74 in the Asian Single Distance Championships here early this month but won the rematch this time.
