Day 3 roundup: South Korea faster on ice, Japan unbeatable on snow

The South Korean skaters showed their speed on ice at the eighth Asian Winter Games here on Wednesday, while host Japan was unstoppable on snow events.

South Korea proved its strength in short track speed skating, winning five out of the eight titles on offer at the Asiad. China claimed the other three, two 500m titles on Tuesday and a men's relay gold on the day.

China took a sweet revenge in the men's 5,000m relay as Wu Dajing led his teammates to a close victory over South Korea with a time of seven minutes 1.983 seconds. Japan settled on the bronze medal.

Wu, disqualified from an earlier 1,000m race following a tangle-up with a South Korean, said the 5,000 win was the result of good team work.

"We are delighted that we beat South Korea after a disappointing 1,000m," said Wu, China's flag-bearer at the opening ceremony.

Wu, along with Ren Ziwei, Han Tianyu and Xu Hongzhi, had been trading leads with South Korea and Japan before storming home first ahead of South Korea to take China's third short track gold in Sapporo.

South Korean skaters were unbeatable in the other three events.

Star skater Shim Suk-hee won the women's 1,000m gold over teammate Choi Min-jeong, and then the two led the country to the 3,000m relay gold medal.

South Koreans Seo Yi-ra and Sin Da-woon finished 1-2 in the men's 1,000m final.

Ren Hongguo, general secretary of the Chinese delegation, told Xinhua that South Koreans were better prepared for the Asian Games.

He admitted there remains a gap between China and South Korea on short track, which was proven by the number of golds won by South Korea.

South Korean skaters also stole the spotlight in speed skating as they swept all the three gold medals on the day.

Lee Seung-Hoon, winner of the mens's 5,000m, claimed the men's 10,000m gold medal in 13 minutes 18.56 seconds, beating Japan's Ryosuke Tsuchiya to second place with 5.18 seconds ahead. Another Japanese skater Seitaro Ichinohe came third in 13:44.73.

Lee then picked up his third gold medal at the Asiad as he helped South Korea win the men's team pursuit title. Japan and Kazakhstan took the silver and bronze medals respectively. China ranked fourth.

Lee is favored to win the mass start on Thursday, the final day of speed skating competition. He's the first triple medalist for South Korea at the eighth Asian Winter Games.

South Korea also clinched the women's 5,000m title as Kim Bo-Reum finished atop in 7:12.58. China's Han Mei came second with 3.36 seconds shy, while the bronze went to Japan's Mai Kiyama, who timed 7:16.24.

Japan was outshone in ice events but it won two snow titles on the day.

Alpine skier Yohei Koyama claimed the men's giant slalom gold medal, registering a total winning time of 2:17.51.

In the men's normal hill ski jumping, four Japanese skiers made top six. Yukiya Sato and Yuken Iwasa won the gold and silver respectively. The event was rescheduled for Wednesday due to strong winds.

Moreover, China reached final in both the men's and women's curling competition. The men's team will take on Japan after beating Chinese Taipei 8-1, while the women's team will meet South Korea in the final after edging Japan 6-5.

In ice hockey, defending champions Kazakhstan whitewashed South Korea 4-0 to open the men's competition at the Asiad. Later on the day China lost to Japan 0-14.

South Korea, Kazakhstan, Japan and China are in the round robin competition, and the top three teams will step on the podium on Sunday. Endit