Chinese disabled swimmers showed that they are worthy of the same acclaim as their able-bodied peers as three world records fell on the first day of the 7th National Games for the Disabled in Kunming on Sunday.

Wang Xiaofu, China's leading disabled swimmer who had the honor of lighting the torch at Saturday's opening ceremony, was the first to set the mark by improving his own world record in the men's 200m individual medley (SM8) on Sunday morning, finishing in 2:24.29 and consigning his previous world record of 2:25.74 to the history books.

In the afternoon sessions, Li Hanhua dug deep in the men's 50m freestyle (S2) and wowed the crowd with a time of 51.54 seconds, obliterating American Curtis Lovejoy's seven-year-old world record of 1:00.11 by 8.57 seconds.

The final record fell to Du Jianping who better Czech swimmer Martin Kovar's world record of 45.65 seconds in the men's 50m freestyle (S3) to 44.73 seconds.

The first gold medal went to Yunnan's Huang Min who swam to victory in the women's 50m butterfly swimming event (S7). The 24-year-old veteran swimmer used her experience to her advantage and finished in 37.19 seconds, slightly below par after she set a world record in 36.84 seconds two months ago in Esbjerg, Denmark.

"I'm very excited to get the first gold which comes as a reward for my coach, my family and all those that have helped me," said the smiling Huang.

(Xinhua News Agency May 14, 2007)