BELGRADE, July 3 (Xinhua) -- Taekwondo powerhouse South Korea claimed three gold medals in a row on Friday to pull away in the World University Games medals table.

    China ended Day Two with a silver in taekwondo and a bronze in gymnastics to follow South Korea in the medal standings with seven medals, including two gold. Spain was third with two gold and one bronze.

    It was a glorious day for the South Koreans at Hall 3 of the Belgrade Fair as Park Hyo-ji (women's under 47kg), Cheon Yong (men's under 54kg) and Jung Jin-hee (women's under 59kg) added three gold medals in taekwondo to the east Asian nation's haul.

    Brazil's Silva Diogo defeated Lee Soon-kil in the men's under 67kg final, denying a clean sweep by South Korea, which has so far won six gold medals in the Korean-style martial art.

    Japanese men's gymnastics team lived up to their billing as they collected 269.700 points from six apparatus to win the team event. Russia took the silver medal with 263.400 points, while an error-prone Chinese side finished third on 260.250 points from six apparatus.

    "We made too many errors today, especially in the floor exercise. It's a pity that we couldn't show the best of us," said Chinese coach Ye Xiaodong.

    China's women's volleyball team had little trouble in defeating Chinese Taipei in straight sets (25-12, 25-15, 25-11). The Chinese, which captured FISU bronze in 2007 and silver in 2005, are already assured of a place in the quarterfinals and will face Slovenia in the last round of group play.

    "We had a good game on serve and kill, and on the whole we played our normal game," said Wang Baoquan, head coach of the Chinese team.

    Twenty-four hours after suffering a lopsided defeat in its tournament opener, China's men's water polo team proved more competitive Friday morning, going down 24-2 to Russia. The second loss in as many days eliminates China from medal contention.

    In sharp contrast, the Chinese women's water polo team recorded their second straight victory here, demolishing Italy 20-4 following a hard-earned 11-8 win over Hungary on Monday.

    In basketball, Chinese women's team rebounded from successive defeats to down Turkey 83-55 in their last group match. It, however, was not enough for China to reach the knock-out stage.

    A total of 10 gold medals are at stake on Saturday.