China has slowed its step to harvest medals at the ongoing
Athens Olympic Games after a flying start in the first day of
competition with four golds.
On the second day, China secured only one gold medal after
female judoka Xian Dongmei claimed the 52kg title.
29-year-old Xian Dongmei won the final by pressing Japan's Yuki
Yokosawa, bronze medallist in the 2003 world champions, to mat for
more than 25 seconds.
Later, China's Wu Meijin lifted his first Olympic silver medal
when he snatched 130kg and lifted 157.5 kg. Turkish weightlifter
Halil Mutlu won the gold with a total of 295kg.
China's hopes of grabbing the third gold shooting events
vanished after Ren Jie was edged out of the top three in women's 10
meter air pistol.
She was bumped out by Maria Grozdeva of Bulgaria in a shoot-out
that decided the bronze-medallist.
Defending Olympic champion Tao Luna suffered an early exit in
the qualifying round.
Later, the Chinese men's basketball team, who are aiming to
finish within top eight in Athens, suffered a humiliating 83-58
loss to a much stronger Spanish team in the opener.
Chinese NBA star Yao Ming contributed 12 points and had eight
rebounds but fouled out with about four minutes to play in the
fourth quarter.
China will take on their second group opponents New Zealand on
Tuesday.
So far, China leads the medal table with five golds, two silvers
and one bronze.
(CRI online August 15, 2004)