Macau East Asia Games 2005 thread

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China and Japan fought out a tense diving duel in the women's three-metre springboard final on Monday evening, filling the top four places at Macau Olympic Aquatic Centre.

In the end, China finished first and third, with Japan second and fourth, in a competition missing China's reigning Olympic champion in the discipline, Guo Jingjing.

Guo had won the one-metre springboard event the previous evening, and in her absence Ma Qianli took the three-metre title with 338.64 points.

Ryoko Nishii won the silver with 325.26, and Xu Mian was third with a score of 323.37, well ahead of Japan's Erii Higuchi.

Ma was not happy with her display, though.

"I wasn't satisfied with my performance because I know I can do much better," she said.

"In the end I was just glad to win the gold."

The diving competition finishes Tuesday with four more events.

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The pins fell and so did the records as Korea rolled to an impressive bowling double on Monday in the two singles events.

After Gye Min Young had won the women's singles, Kang Hee Won followed up in the men's singles to give Korea the first two of 12 gold medals on offer at the Bowling Centre.

Kang won the men's singles with 1,505 points, ahead of Japan's Yoshinao Masatoki with 1,378.

Korea's Joung Seoung Ju took the bronze with 1,354, as the top three finishers all beat the old East Asian Games record of 1,346, set by Wu Chih-Chan of Chinese Taipei at Osaka in 2001.

"I am very proud to win this gold medal for Korea," said Kang, 23.

"It was a good competition but I was able to play at my best to win the gold.

"Now I want to win the team competition and hope to become the best in the world."

Earlier in the day, Gye had taken the women's singles, recovering from a nervy start.

"Macau's new to me so I didn't play at my best early on, but the support of my team cheered me up and I was able to get some strikes after that," she said.

"I really want to thank my coach and friends for this success."

With 10 more medals to be contested, the Koreans have set the standards for their rivals to follow.

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Golf is not an East Asian Games sport, but there was some friendly competition on the course on Monday at the Games' VIP golf tournament.

The winning team was Kuan Hin Meng, Roberto Sousa, Tam Pac Ip and Iau Kam Hoi, who returned a score of 59.56.

In second place was Kim Jang Hwan, Kim Myong Jin, Leung Kam Hung and Lei Iau Cheong (59.62), followed by the team of Koi Kuok Ieng, Chao A Pui, Philip Chiu and Ieong Siu Tai (60.75).

The quartet of Jack Li, Wong Chu, Victor Wu and Margaret Hong were fourth with 63.31, with Li Cheng, Johnny Senna, Dorothy Ng and Wendy Li in fifth position with 63.69.

Individual awards: Nearest pin on sixth hole, Wong Chu; nearest pin on fourth hole, Johnny Senna; longest drive on 18th, Kunio Muraishi; longest drive on eight, Tim Noonan; straightest drive on 10th, Cliff Chan.

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Rank Country Gold Silver Bronze Total
1 China 31 5 4 40
2 Macau 7 12 6 25
3 South Korea 3 6 6 15
4 Chinese Taipei 1 10 13 24
5 Japan 1 8 9 18
6 North Korea 1 3 5 9
7 Hong Kong 1 1 2 4
8 Mongolia 0 0 5 5
9 Guam 0 0 0 0

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Men's Team Final

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China made a confident start in the men's basketball tournament by beating Macau 94-43 in the opening game at Tap Seac Multisport Pavilion on Saturday.

From the moment Yi Jianlian, China's 18-year-old, 2.12-metre forward, won the tip-off and Wang Shipeng drained the first of his six three-pointers, the result was never in doubt.

But Macau hung on gamely, and there was no disgrace in defeat against such a tall, talented and young Chinese team.

Yi, who scored 15 points, three fewer than the impressive outside shooter Wang, said China had not played to their maximum level.

"It was only half power, because we were playing against our brothers," he said.

The seven teams will play a round-robin format, with the top four qualifying for the semi-finals.

Full results Day 1 (29/10/2005):

China vs Macau 94-43
Honk Kong vs Japan 59-88
Chinese Taipei vs South Korea 75-56

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MACAO, October 31 (Xinhua) -- China was pushed to its limit on Monday before overcoming Chinese Taipei 68-65 in the men's basketball preliminary round at the East Asian Games in Macao.

In the day's other action, Japan crushed Macao 97-43 while Hong Kong beat Mongolia 75-67.

China, without NBA star Yao Ming, looked anything but the reigning Asian champions in the match, and went only 13-for-41 from the field against Chinese Taipei's 19-for-44.

Wang Shipeng was the top scorer for China with 21 points. Yi Jianlian, a promising center who stands 2.12m tall, had 18 points and grabbed 10 rebounds.

Tien Lei led Chinese Taipei with 11 points, including a three- pointer.

China established a 22-21 lead in the first quarter, but its rivals overtook at 39-33 at halftime.

The mainlanders managed to regain the upper hand in the third quarter by scoring 21 points to Chinese Taipei's 13.

China outscored Chinese Taipei 14-13 in the last period before sealing the hard-earned victory.

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China's medal machine cranked out another four gold on the first morning of the East Asian Games athletics competition at Macau Stadium on Tuesday.

They won all four of the nine-event opening day, even without the services of Athens Olympics 10,000 metres champion Xing Huina, who is entered only in the women's 5,000 metres.

In her absence, Bao Guiying took the 10,000-metre gold in 32 minutes, 35.07 seconds, ahead of Japan's Hiromi Ominami, who was second in 32:36.62. Paek Hyang Ok of DPR Korea won the bronze in a time of 34:53.06.

In the field events, Li Meiju won the women's shot put with her modest first throw of 18.12 metres, well below her personal best of 19.05, and Wu Tao finished first in the men's discus with 61.74 metres, ahead of compatriot Tulake Nuermaimaiti, who hails from the Xinjiang Uigur Autonomous Region.

China also recorded a 1-2 finish in the women's high jump, with Jing Xuezhu taking gold with a clearance of 1.85, the same height as second-placed Zheng Xingjuan but with fewer faults.

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China won the first gold medal of the East Asian Games athletics competition at Macau Stadium on a drizzly and overcast Tuesday morning.

It came from Li Meiju in the women's shot put, and was the first of 45 gold medals on offer over four days in track and field.

Li's first throw of 18.12 metres turned out to be the best of the five competitors, as Japan's Yoko Toyonaga took silver with a personal best 16.89 and China's left-handed Liu Yingfan the bronze with 16.50.

The 26-year-old Li had entered the event with a best distance of 19.05 metres, and she acknowledged that she just did enough to win here without exerting herself.

"It was below my normal form, but the competition is not strong in this event," said Li, who took up the discipline nine years ago when her coach decided her future lay in the shot put rather than hammer or javelin.

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Getting better!

That's the positive approach taken by Macau's basketball ace Leong Chi Seng.

His team had just lost their third straight game, 120-78 to Chinese Taipei in the preliminary round of the men's tournament, but Leong was far from depressed.

"Of the three games we have played, this one was the best," said Leong, who netted a team-high 23 points.

"The fact that we scored 78 points against Chinese Taipei is good for the team, and has given us confidence for our next game against Mongolia."

Macau lost 94-43 to China and 97-43 to Japan before scoring more freely against Chinese Taipei, but also slackening on defence.

After a round-robin format, the top four of the seven teams advance to the semi-finals.

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China's "Flying Spectacles Man" Hu Kai offered a vision of the future in winning the men's 100-metre sprint at the East Asian Games on Tuesday afternoon.

The reigning World University Games champion from Tsinghua University can now claim to be the fastest man in East Asia, too, after finishing first in 10.40 seconds.

Japan's Shingo Kawabata took the silver in 10.54, and Chinese Taipei's Wang Shihwen was third in 10.63.

The 23-year-old Hu is famous in China, not just for his Universiade success in Turkey in August but also because he runs in spectacles on the advice of doctors, who warned that contact lenses could cause discomfort.

Hu said two false starts to his race had helped him focus on the task in hand.

"They allowed me to gain a bit of tempo to my start," he said.

"My mind and my muscles are feeling tired, and I wasn't well prepared for the race, but the two false starts helped me reorganize my mental condition.

"The time is not important because I've just been competing at the National Games and I've had many races in 2005. My next target is the Asian Games in Doha next year, and then the Olympics in Beijing."

Hu won a silver in the 100 metres at the National Games in Nanjing last month, and has no plans to focus solely on sprinting. He earned his place at the prestigious Tsinghua University through his academic ability in economics and management, and said he planned to continue studying for his Masters degree in 2011.

In the women's race, Qin Wangping won gold for China in 11.65, ahead of compatriot Shu Yan (11.76) and Japan's Ayumi Suzuki (11.95).

Qin won the 100 and 200-metre titles at the National Games, and felt she could have been sharper in Macau if there had been a heat rather than a straight final.

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Korea underlined their bowling dominance again on Tuesday when they won their third consecutive medal at the Bowling Centre.

After claiming the women's and men's singles on Monday, Korea followed up by winning the men's doubles ahead of Japan and Chinese Taipei.

Taking his second gold medal in two days, singles champion Kang Hee Won was partnered by Choi Jong In, and their total of 2,834 over six ends was 27 better than Japan's Masaru Ito and Hirofumi Morimoto.

Chinese Taipei's bronze medal-winners were Hsiao Chinliang and Tsai Tingyun, who were a massive 208 pins off the pace with 2,626.

Korea also finished fourth and fifth, as the leading eight pairs all broke the previous East Asian Games record of 2,570 set by Japan's Nobuyuki Takahama and Kosei Wada at the first edition in 1993.

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MACAU -- If there's one place Japan is confident about holding its own against China's juggernaut at the East Asian Games, it's in the pool.

With only one gold medal to 33 for Asian rival China after three days of competition in Macau, Japan has given up a massive lead in the standings.

But team officials are confident that a group of promising young swimmers can help close the gap.

Athens Olympic medalists Kosuke Kitajima, Ai Shibata and Takashi Yamamoto all decided to sit out the games. Instead, Japan will look to up-and-coming prospects Takeshi Matsuda, Yuko Nakanishi and Aya Terakawa.

"We're hoping for a gold rush in the pool," Japan's deputy chef de mission Koji Sakurai said Tuesday. "Many of these athletes, like Nakanishi, represent the next generation of Japanese swimming."

Matsuda won silver in the 200 butterfly at the world championships in Montreal in July. The 21-year-old is widely regarded as one of Japan's brightest prospects.

"He's one of best young swimmers," said Sakurai. "We're hoping for big things from him."

Nakanishi, who carried the flag for Japan at the opening ceremonies on Saturday, won bronze in the 200-meter butterfly at Athens and again in Montreal.

Terakawa, 20, won the women's 100 and 50 backstroke at the University Games in August and will be looking for a strong performance here along with 23-year-old Genki Imamura, winner of the bronze medal in the men's 200 breaststroke in Montreal.

There are 40 swimming gold medals on offer at the Macau Olympic Aquatic Center and Japan, which won eight medals in swimming in Athens for their best postwar Olympic performance in the pool, is hoping to get a large share of those.

Japan traditionally performs well in synchronized swimming and is hoping that 23-year-old swimmers Emiko Suzuki and Saho Harada can live up to those high standards.

China didn't win any swimming events at Montreal and managed only five medals overall.

The nation's swimming program is still in the recovery and rebuilding phase after 32 Chinese swimmers were entangled in doping offenses in the 1990s.

Luo Xuejuan, the 100-meter breaststroke champion from Athens, is the only Olympic gold medalist in China's swim squad here.

Among rising stars are 15-year-old swimmer Yang Jieqiao, who clinched gold in the 400-meter and 800-meter freestyle at the national games.

Like Japan, China will be using these games to develop future prospects for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. (AP)

November 1, 2005

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Chinese Wu Tao and Tulake Nuermainaiti took the top two places in the men's discus throw final at the East Asian Games in Macau on Tuesday.

Wu threw 61.74 meters, beating his teammate by 2.53 meters.

South Korean Choi Jong-bum was third with 54.19.

China also swept the top two in women's high jump.

Jing Xuezhu cleared1.85 meters for the gold while Zheng Xingjuan took the silver with the same height.

South Korean Park In-hee won the bronze with1.70.

In womne's shot put event, Chinese Li Meiju took the crown with a toss of 18.12 meters.

Japanese Yoko Toyonaga picked the silver with 16.89 meters and Chinese Liu Yingfan took the bronze with 16.50 meters.

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Chinese sprinters have won both the men's and women's 100m races at the ongoing East Asian Games in Macau and captured four more golds in athletics.

Universiade champion Hu Kai of China clocked 10.40 seconds to win the men's 100m at the East Asian Games Tuesday in Macau.

Japan Shingo Kawabata finished second in 10.54 and Chinese Taipei's Wang Shih-wen was third in 10.63.

Earlier in women's 100m race, China's Qin Wangping and Shu Yan finished 1-2.

Qin clocked 11.65 seconds, 0.11 ahead of Shu, with Ayumi Suzuki of Japan taking the bronze in 11.95.