Chinese Li Jiajun and Feng Kai surpassed the Asian record for the men's 500-meter in the short-track speedskating competitions at the Chinese National Games on Tuesday.

Li, the reigning world champion, won the 4.5-lap final in 42. 285 seconds, 0.252 seconds faster than the Asian mark set by Japanese Terao Satoru in 1999.

Feng, Li's teammate and fellow Jilin native, clocked 42.424 for the second place with An Yulong, also from Jilin province, placing the third in 42.650.

The ninth Chinese National Games are to officially open in November while the short-track competitions were brought forward to this month in order to make way for the national team's preparation work for the 2002 Winter Olympic Games, at which the Chinese will be seeking their first ever Winter Olympic gold medal.

(People's Daily 04/25/2001)