SHANGHAI, Nov. 10 (Xinhua) -- South Korea displayed its power in both men's and women's 1,000m races as all its skaters topped their respective heats to make the quarterfinals of the ISU World Cup short track speedskating here on Friday.
In the women's 1,000m heats, China's Fan Kexin became a surprising exit from the first round as the Sochi Olympic runner-up was disqualified for impeding.
"I'll improve myself in the next two months. I want to become strong enough to avoid any penalty. It's a lesson for me today," said Fan, "Being a skater, I will not be influenced by this penalty and will give my all out in Shanghai."
After Zang Yize failed to sail further, Han Yutong became the lone Chinese woman to qualify for the quarterfinals of the event.
Shim Suk Hee, the bronze medalist in Sochi Games, skated strongly and smoothly in the heat, joining teammates Lee Yu Bin and Kim A Lang to beat the odds and advance as the top finishers of their own groups.
Veteran Arianna Fontana of Italy, Valerie Maltais of Canada and Suzanne Schulting of the Netherlands also qualified for the quarterfinals.
In the men's 1,000m heats, Chinese Wu Dajing and Han Tianyu made it to the quarterfinals as runners-up.
"After the last stage in the Netherlands, I trained very hard in Beijing for nearly one month, and I can see the improvement in my ability and strategy. I hope I can display something different in PyeongChang Games," said Han, the silver madalist in the Sochi Games.
"What I dream for most is the gold medal in the men's relay in PyeongChang, because it will show how strong our team is," he added.
Hwang Dae Heon, Park Se Yeong and Kwak Yoon Gy earned the full spots for South Korea to the quarterfinals. Olympic champion Charles Hamelin and John-Henry Krueger of the United States also advanced to the quarterfinals.
In the team relay heats, China made the semifinals in both men's 5,000m relay and women's 3,000m relay as top finishers, and will meet South Korea and Russia in the first semifinal of the men's relay, and Canada and Japan in the second semifinal of the women's relay.
