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)