GUANGZHOU, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) -- He Jie and Zhang Deshun triumphed in the men's and women's races respectively, as the first cross-boundary marathon in the 66-year history of China's National Games was held on Saturday.

As one of two cross-boundary events at the 15th National Games, the marathon started and finished at the Shenzhen Bay Sports Center, linking Shenzhen and Hong Kong. Technology enabled athletes, vehicles and supplies to go through "zero delay, zero contact and zero wait" clearance during the race.

He clocked a winning time of two hours, 12 minutes and seven seconds, earning Ningxia its first National Games gold medal in summer sports in 38 years.

"Ningxia has been waiting for this gold medal for 38 years. As I carry the hopes of over seven million Ningxia people, I need to prove that I can make it," said an emotional He after the race.

Yunnan runner Zhang retained her gold medal in the women's race, improving her result by over two minutes compared to the last Games held in Shaanxi in 2021.

The table tennis competition approached its climax, with the men's and women's singles semifinals featuring clashes between world champions.

Shanghai's Fan Zhendong recovered from a 2-1 deficit in games to defeat Beijing's Wang Chuqin 4-2, setting up a men's singles final encounter with Hainan's Lin Shidong on Sunday.

"It was inevitable to feel pressure in the face of such an outstanding player. I tried to keep a steady mentality throughout the match. I told myself time and time again to focus on winning the next point. A single mistake may change the whole story," said Fan, who became the 11th player in history to achieve a career Grand Slam of Olympic Games, World Championships and World Cup with his triumph at Paris 2024.

On the women's side, Hebei's Sun Yingsha saw off Macao's Zhu Yuling 4-1, while Heilongjiang's Wang Manyu swept reigning Olympic champion Chen Meng of Shandong in straight games. The world's top two female players will meet in the title showdown.

On the first day of track and field medal events, Team Fujian triumphed in the 4x100m mixed relay in 40.37 seconds. The event has been added to the program for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games and features a running order of woman, woman, man, man. Team Guangdong clocked three minutes 17.54 seconds to take the 4x400m mixed relay gold.

In the swimming pool, Shanghai's Qin Haiyang claimed a third consecutive men's 200m breaststroke title in two minutes 7.69 seconds, while Zhejiang veteran Xu Jiayu clinched his fourth straight gold in the men's 200m backstroke in 1:56.63.

Siobhan Haughey from Hong Kong claimed the women's 100m freestyle title in 52.89 seconds, her second gold at the Games.

Guangdong outplayed Sichuan 74-68 in the women's basketball final, meaning one of the Games' hosts has swept both men's and women's titles in senior basketball.

Guangdong led by 11 points midway through the final quarter before holding off Sichuan's late charge to secure the title.

Chinese national team guard Yang Shuyu had a game-high 22 points for Guangdong, which also got a double-double of 10 points and 12 rebounds from Huang Sijing.

Also on Saturday, Huo Yuexin scored a late winner as Jiangsu edged Hubei 1-0 in the women's football final. Enditem