Chinese freestyle skiers swept both men's and women's aerials titles at the 6th Asian Winter Games at the Beidahu ski resort.

Olympic champion Han Xiaopeng pulled out two superb jumps in a field of eight athletes to claim his first Asiad gold medal on Thursday.

World champion and Olympic silver medalist Li Nina won the women's aerials without a hitch on Wednesday.

"Chinese skiers are too good for the opponents and we have a handful of top athletes for aerials," said Rao Gang, team leader of the Chinese freestyle squad. "The youngsters are also catching up."

Han's teammates Qiu Sen, Liu Zhongqing and Li Ke finished second to fourth respectively on the scoreboard. Fifth-ranked Japanese Kotaro Kurata shared the bronze medal with Liu according to the OCA rules that one team can not sweep all medals.

The Chinese women swept the top four in a five-skier field with Maral Unenbat of Mongolia sharing the bronze with Chinese athletes.

Han hit the big time at the Turin Winter Olympics by claiming the men's aerials title, but slumped in last year's World Cup series, winning second place in Beidahu and Spindleruv, Czech Republic, respectively.

"I did not ski my best and the strong wind also affected my performance. I am very happy with the result and I think it was a little bit luck as my teammates all had chance to win," said Han, now ranked fifth in the world.

On the rink, China's women and South Korea's men teams took full house in the 1,000m speed skating events respectively, where both Asian records were toppled.

China dominated the women's event with Wang Beixing crowned for the second time in an Asian record of one minute 17.35 seconds after winning the 500m event on Tuesday. The previous record of 1:19.17 was set by South Korean Kim You-Lim earlier in January.

Wang Beixing

Wang Fei, the first double gold medalist here, finished in 1:17.54, adding a silver to her medal tally. Ren Hui was in 1:18.84 on the third place shared with Kim You-Lim in 1:18.96.

"We did not expect such a good result before the race actually," said Wang Beixing. "For me, the big goal is to do better in the Winter Olympics in 2010."

In the men's race, Lee Kyou-Hyuk, the reigning champion and the winner in the men's 1,500m on Wednesday, became the third double gold medalist at the Asiad claiming the 1,000 meters title in 1:09.86.

"I am glad that I did well here," said the 29-year-old Lee. "I have gone through a tough time. This may be my last tournament, but I am not quite sure."

His compatriot Mun Joon, the former Asian record holder, took the silver medal in 1:10.45, followed by Choi Jae-Bong of South Korea in 1:10.92, who also beat the previous record of 1:11.74. Nakajima Takaharu of Japan shared the bronze with a record of 1:11.35.

China's third gold in Day 4 of competition came from Women's Biathlon 15km Individual by Liu Xianying who finished in 56:27.6.

Japan demonstrated their supremacy in Alpine skiing again when veteran Yasuhiro Ikuta won the men's giant slalom title.

In both the men's and women's curling finals, South Korea defeated Japan twice, a 3-2 victory for the men and a 7-6 win for the women.

Kazakhstan registered their third gold medal as Alexandr Chervyakov beat Chinese Zhang Qing to win the men's 20km individual biathlon event.

China kept their lead 15-15-18, South Korea placed second (9-12-9) and Japan dropped to third (8-4-10). Kazakhstan stand in fourth place with three golds, four silvers and five bronzes, while Mongolia were the only other country on the tally with one bronze.

(Xinhua News Agency February 2, 2007)