China's canoeing slalom duo failed to earn a slot in the men's double (C2) final on Thursday, putting an bitter end to the medal hopeful's bid to win the host country's first slalom Olympic medal.
The men's C2 semifinal finished before a thunderstorm postponed the competition in the mid afternoon. The men's C2 finals, the women's K1 semifinals and finals were rescheduled to Friday, but the exact time was to be announced.
The combination of Hu Minghai and Shu Junrong came in last among 10 crews and failed to be among the top 6 to make the final. They had a time of 164.08 seconds after getting a 50-second penalty for missing a gate and another 2-second penalty for hitting a gate.
"We've made good preparations in the past four years, and just didn't have the luck to move forwards," Hu, 19, said in a low mood.
"It's not because of pressure, but because of a technique mistake," said the 20-year-old Shu. "Everyone wants to win."
The crew finished third in the heats on Wednesday and had looked very likely to make history by posting a podium finish.
Felix Michel/Sebastian Piersig of Germany, bronze medalists in the pre-Games World Cup in Tacen, won the semifinal with a time of 94.38 seconds. The result was 0.50 seconds faster than that of double Olympic champion Pavol and Peter Hochschorner of Slovokia.
(Xinhua News Agency August 14, 2008)