South Korea surged up the medals chart thanks to its short-track speed skating champions but China still dominated the Asian Winter Games with four new titles.

The host nation has 12 gold medals, against seven for Japan and six for South Korea. Kazakhstan also joined the gold standard with two cross-country titles.

In speed skating China won two of the four golds, as Wang Fei added the 1,500m title to her 5,000m victory on Monday, both achieved in Asian record times.

Wang, 24, won in 2min 01.49sec, relegating Lee Ju-Youn of South Korea to second place with China's Ji Jia third.

China's second gold went to women's sprinter Xing Aihua in the 100m. Teammate Wang Beixing, the 500m winner on Tuesday, took second place and Lee Sang-Hwa of South Korea third.

Japan scored a gold in the men's 100m with Yuya Oikawa inching out Yu Fengtong of China and Lee Kang-Seok of South Korea who finished second and third, respectively.

South Korea's Lee Kyou Hyuk snatched the men's 1,500m title, matching the Asian record of 1min 49.13sec with Gao Xuefeng of China second and Mun Joon of South Korea third.

In short-track speed skating South Korea took three of the four titles as Olympic champion Ahn Hyun-Soo won the men's 1,000m race and Jin Sun-Yu won the women's 1,000m.

Jin Sun-Yu

South Korea's men brought in the third gold with victory in the 5000m relay but China ensured there was no medals sweep for the night by claiming the women's 3,000m gold.

In the final overall short-track speed skating medal table featuring eight events, South Korea led with four golds, five silvers and two bronzes, followed by China with four golds, three silvers and five bronzes, leaving only one third-place finish to Japan.
"We won just one gold while South Korea took six in the Turin Olympic Games," said Li Yan, head coach of the Chinese team. "We saw hope here. And our next goal is the Olympic Games in Vancouver in 2010."

In cross-country Kazakhstan won their first gold medals of the Asian Games, taking both races on Wednesday.

In the women's 5km classical, Oxana Yatskaya won in 15min 57.73sec ahead of compatriot Svetlana Malakhova. China's Wang Chunli was third.

Kazakhstan swept the men's 30km free skiing with Maxim Odnodvortsev winning in 1hr 22min 44sec followed by Andrey Kondryshev and Andrey Golovko.

Olympic silver medalist Li Nina led a Chinese sweep in the freestyle skiing women's aerials despite high winds and falling snow.

Li Nina

Second was awarded to 17-year-old Xu Mengtao with teammate Zhang Xin third.

However, because competition rules specifically state that no one nation can win all medals in one event, 16-year-old Maral Unenbat of Mongolia, who finished fifth behind four Chinese, was awarded the bronze. The special rule only adopted on Jan. 31 was made by Olympic Council of Asia in an attempt to encourage more Asian countries to participate in the Winter Games.

In the giant slalom Emiko Kiyosawa of Japan claimed her country's second gold medal of the day ahead of Oh Jae-Eun and Kim Sun-Joo of South Korea.

(China Daily, Xinhua News Agency February 1, 2007)