Natalie Du Toit of South Africa competes in the SM9 final of women's 200m individual medley during the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games at the National Aquatics Center in Beijing, Sept. 11, 2008. Natalie Du Toit claimed the title and broke the world record of the event with a time of 2 mins 27.83 secs. (Xinhua/Fan Jun) Photo Gallery>>>

    Sportswriter Gao Peng

    BEIJING, Sept. 11 (Xinhua) -- Natalie du Toit stayed on course to win five gold medals at the Beijing Paralympics by winning the women's 200-meter individual medley on Thursday as the Games were hit by more doping offenses.

    The South African amputee swimmer clocked 2 minutes 27.83 seconds to grab her third gold in Beijing, shaving more than two seconds off her own record in her class.

    "I just went out there and had a good race. I just enjoyed it. I felt good in the warm-up so to get out there and have a good race was a bonus," said du Toit.

    Du Toit, who had won the 100m freestyle and 100m butterfly earlier this week, will also take part in 50m freestyle and 400m freestyle.

    The first female amputee to compete in an able-bodied Olympics, du Toit finished 16th among 25 competitors in the 10-kilometer open-water swim last month at the Beijing Games.

China's He Junquan, Du Jianping, Yang Yuanrun and Tang Yuan(L-R) pose for photos in the awarding ceremony for men's 4x50m freestyle 20 pts during the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games at the National Aquatics Center in Beijing, Sept. 11, 2008. China claimed the title and broke the world record of the event with a time of 2 mins 18.15 secs. (Xinhua/Yang Shiyao) Photo Gallery>>>

    Meanwhile, China pulled away in the race for most medals won, leading the count with 33 golds, 37 silvers and 26 bronzes. Britain was second on the ladder with 27 golds, 15 silvers and 14 bronzes. The United States was third on 18-12-14.

    Table tennis players again provided the bulk of China's gold rush. Feng Panfeng, Chen Gang, Ge Yang and Lei Lina won their respective classes on Thursday, bringing the host nation's total to eight golds in the sport.

    But Zhang Xiaoling, a 51-year-old veteran who was seeking her sixth straight Paralympic singles title, failed to materialize her dream and had to settle for a bronze in her class.

    The home crowd had more to cheer about at the National Stadium, better known as the Bird's Nest, when Guo Wei (men's discus throw), Mi Na (women's shot put) and Qing Suping (women's javelin throw) earned three gold medals for China.

    Elsewhere, Chinese pair Zhou Yangjing and Shan Zilong paddled their way to victory in mixed double sculls, and the swimming quartet of Du Jianping, Tang Yuan, He Junquan and Yang Yuanrun took the men's 4x50m freestyle title.

Italy's Alessandro Franzetti, Graziana Saccocci, Daniele Signore, Luca Agoletto, and Paola Protopapa(L-R) compete in the mixed coxed four LTA final of the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games rowing event on Sept. 11, 2008. The Italian team claimed the title of the event with 3 mins 33.13 secs.(Xinhua/Wang Yebiao) Photo Gallery>>>

    These sporting achievements, however, were overshadowed by a string of doping scandals.

    Facourou Sissoko of Mali and Liudmyla Osmanova of Ukraine, both powerlifting competitors, have been expelled from the Paralympics after testing positive for steroids, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) said.

    German wheelchair basketball player Ahmet Coskun had also been kicked out of the Games as traces of finasteride were found in his urine sample taken on August 23.

    The German National Paralympic Committee said that although finasteride is a non-performance enhancement medication, it can be used to cover up drugs that do. Coskun, 33, insisted the positive result might result from using a drug for hair loss treatment.

    That brought to four the number of athletes caught using illegal substances. Pakistani powerlifter Naveed Ahmed Butt had been banned after failing a doping test on Sept. 4.

Lei Lina of China returns a shot during the women's individual class 9 gold medal match against her compatriot Liu Meili at the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games table tennis event in Beijing, China, Sept. 11, 2008. Lei won the match 3-0 and claimed the title.(Xinhua/Xu Jiajun) Photo Gallery>>>

    The IPC said it plans to conduct 1,100 tests at the Sept. 6-17 Games. So far, 461 tests, both in and out of competition, have been carried out.

    More than 4,000 athletes from 147 countries and regions compete here in 20 sports in five different categories of disability, with a total of 472 gold medals at stake.