by Sportswriter Ma Xiangfei
HONG KONG, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- Some stars are shining and some were subdued as the East Asian Games went into the third day hereon Monday.
China had the stronghold to the top position in the nine-team standings with 27 gold, 18 silver and 15 bronze. Japan remained in second with 18 gold, 16 silver and 20. South Korea stood in third and hosts Hong Kong of China were fourth.
Swimming's games records were sure to be the most fragile thing in the Kowloon Park Swimming Pool as all the eight records were renewed but world record holder Zhang Lin was not the one to write them.
Zhang finished third in the men's 200m freestyle which was won by Japanese Yoshihiro Okumura in one minute 46.37 seconds.
But Zhang was not disappointed.
"Actually I was pleased with my performance in the whole year," said the first Chinese world champion in men's swimming. Zhang broke the 800m freestyle to bag the world title in July.
The other three men's titles all went to Japanese swimmers, who were Kohei Kawamoto in the 50m butterfly in 23.60, Ryosuke Iriein the 200m backstroke in 1:53.73 and Yohsuke Miyamoto in the 800mfreestyle in 7:59.85.
The women's titles were under Chinese names including Liu Jingin the 200m individual medley in 2:12.10, Gao Chang in the 50mbackstroke in 27.43, Jiao Liuyang in the 50m butterfly in 25.91and 4x200 freestyle relay.
In the men's 10m air rifle, Athens Olympic champions and Beijing Games silver medalist Zhu Qinan narrowly missed the world record but his result of 703.1 (598+105.1) points surpassed the previous games record of 700.3, set by his Chinese fellowman Liu Tianyou who took the silver today.
"It was a pity of my last shot, but that also meant my score could be a lot higher," said Zhu, who needed a 10.4 in the last shot to set a new world mark but just did a 9.9.
For Zhu, the world record was not unbeatable at all.
"I don't consider the world record as too high. I think it would be easy to topple (it) if I prepare well for it," he said.
While the table tennis, cue sports and indoor cycling wrapped up their competitions, the curtains on bowling and weightlifting were lifted on the third day when drizzles throughout the morning and heavy-clouded weather forced several tennis matches postponed.
Spectators flocked to the Lai Chi Kok Park Sports Center to watch Beijing Olympic champion Long Qingquan in the 56kgweightlifting competition with just three contestants.
Long lifted both the barbell and the victory, leading by 40kgover the second-placed Yang Chin-yi from Chinese Taipei. Former world champion Yang Lian of China did the same in the women's 48kgcategory but with a much less advantage over Chen Wei-ling also from Chinese Taipei.
The Democratic People's Republic of Korea received its first gold medal here as Kim Un Guk won the men's 62kg event.
Table tennis giants flexed their muscles in the Queen Elizabeth stadium as China, Hong Kong of China and Japan already combined to book four titles even before the finals.
China became the expected big winners. Yao Yan edged Wen Jia for the women's singles gold. Xu Xin collected his third gold medal here by nipping the men's glory from Zhang Jike hours after the two rivals worked together to seal the doubles victory.
Love birds Tie Ya Na and Tang Peng became temporary rivals in the mixed doubles final before the girl took the upper hand.
Tie and Ko Lai Chak breezed past Tang and Jiang Hua Jun to lead the Hong Kong one-two finish.
"China Doll" Ai Fukuhara of Japan eventually stood on the top of the podium and smiled as she partnered Kasumi Ishikawa to beatHiroko Fujii/Misako Wakamiya.
Over at the Tseung Kwan O Sports Center, used for the indoorcycling event, Kuan Sok Mui brought Macao its third cycling gold in the singles artistic cycling following she and her sister Sok In's triumph in the pairs yesterday. Hong Kong's Yu Sum Yee/Lo Tin Hin and Ip Hin Bon/Yu Po Man pulled off a one-two finish in the men's pairs but their cycle ball team was edged by Japan 4-3 in the gold medal match.
The taekwondo finals in Shek Kip Mei Park Sports Center almost turned into South Korea's one-man's if not for a Chinese Taipei break.
The South Korean seized five out of the six gold medals as Kim Yong Min (62kg), Kim Eunghyun (67kg), Song Jihoon (72kg) dominated the men's finals while Lee Hye Young (55kg) and Kim Saerom (63kg) were crowned in the women's events.
Tseng Pei-hua was the only one who broke the South Korean barricade to win in the 59kg category and her teammates bagged three silver on the mat. Mongolia and Hong Kong also took one silver apiece.
On the bowling alley, South Korean Hwang Sun Ok and Japanese Toshihiko Takahashi pulled off the women's and men's titles respectively.
The last two gold medals in cue sport were awarded to Japanese Mori Yoichiro in the men's one-cushion carom and Chen Xue of China in the women's 6-red snooker.s
