Sun Yang of Zhejiang reacts after the men's 400m freestyle swimming final at 13th Chinese National Games in north China's Tianjin Municipality, Aug. 31, 2017. Sun Yang won the gold medal with 3 minutes and 41.94 seconds. (Xinhua/Fei Maohua)
Dubbed as China's mini Olympics, the National Games saw another world record of shooting shattered here on Thursday, by Hebei youngster Yang Haoran in the men's 50m rifle 3 positions during the qualification round. [Special coverage]
Earlier on Tuesday, Gao Chang nailed world record-equaling 594 points in the women's 50m rifle 3 positions qualifier, before five-time Olympian Tan Zongliang won the men's 10m air pistol on Wednesday, scoring 242.3 to surpass the current world mark by 0.7 points.
Yang, the men's 10m air rifle world champion being crowned three years ago, scored 1,189 points in the men's 50m rifle 3 positions qualification round to beat the world record by three points.
The current world record of the 50m rifle 3 positions was set by Nazar Louginets of Russia on June 12, 2014 at ISSF World Cup Rifle & Pistol in Munich of Germany.
Yang, just 21 years old, later won the event with a score of 460.4 points in the final for his double victories. On Tuesday, he retained his National Games title in the men's 10m air rifle with the highest score of 248.9 points.
"I am glad to win my second gold, especially because I've never won the event before," said Yang.
Also in shooting on Thursday, Zhao Ruozhu from Shanxi took the gold of the women's 10m air rifle with 250.9 points, while the team title of the kind went to Zhejiang province.
Olympic champion Yi Siling failed to qualify for the individual final on Thursday after the withdrawal of the 28-year-old from the 50m rifle 3 positions event on Tuesday due to her five-month pregnance.
Besides the three finals in shooting, the Day 4 competitions of the nationwide quadrennial sports gala have other nine gold medals on offer in the swimming, archery, track cycling, equestrian and weightlifting events.
In a much followed final in the evening, Olympic and world champion Sun Yang swam his own race and retained the men's 400m freestyle title, with a time of 3 minutes and 41.94 seconds, over 5 seconds faster than runner-up Ji Xinjie of Shandong.
It was the 100th gold medal of Sun's swimming career and with the second fastest time of the season, just 0.56 seconds more than the fastest which brought him the world title last month at the FINA World Championships in Budapest, Hungary.
"I always want to swim as fast as I can. I was concentrated on my own race and techniques," said Sun, who will compete in the 200m, 800m, 1,500m and 3 relays at the National Games after the 400m victory.
Also on Thursday evening, Wang Shun from Zhejiang dominated the men's 400m individual medley in 4:12.59 and Zhou Min from Shanghai claimed the title of the women's 400m IM with a time of 4:40.75.
The team consisted of Zhang Yufei, Wu Qingfeng, Wu Yue, and Zhu Menghui won the women's 4X100m freestyle relay in 3:36.66.
Elsewhere in Tianjin, world beach volleyball champion Xue Chen and her new partner Ma Yuanyuan marched into the women's top 16 after taking their third consecutive win at the Games.
The pair from Fujian and Shandong, hot favorites in the tournament, beat Lin Meitong/Liu Jing of Liaoning 21-18, 21-11 to finish atop of preliminary pool C.
"A lot of people take us as the title favorites at the Games, while we just want to play our best and improve our combination game by game," said Xue, who had paired with Zhang Xi to win the bronze at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and the world title in 2013.
The National Games allow spikers from different provinces and cities to take part in beach volleyball tournaments as a team, and Xue/Ma are benefiting from the new rules.
Olympic and world badminton champion Li Xuerui came back to the court after one year on sideline due to leg injury, but suffered a defeat with partner Gao Ziyao, losing to Huang Dongping and Shen Yabing of Fujian 16-21, 21-12, 17-21.
"As I'm still not fully recovered, I choose the doubles match to play first. There is no need to play the much consuming singles match at the moment. It will be a pity if I get injured again. So I will not play singles match until I'm prepared," said Li.
The badminton competitions started on Wednesday and will run through to Sept. 8, the closing day of the National Games.
