Roundup: Figure skaters, snowboarders win 3 golds for China

China bagged three more golds medals on the penultimate day of the Asian Winter Games as four-time Olympian Zhang Hao led his partner to the figure skating pairs gold medal and snowboarders Liu Jiayu and Zhang Yiwei swept the halfpipe events here on Saturday.

Dancing to "Cavatina", veteran Zhang and 21-year-old Yu Xiaoyu, who paired up nine months ago, delivered a stellar free skate, scoring a season best 145.98 points for a winning total of 223.88, well ahead of second-placed teammates Peng Cheng/Jin Yang who posted 197.06.

Ryom Tae Ok and Kim Ju Sik from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea claimed the bronze with 177.40 points, winning their country's first medal in Sapporo.

The short medal table has laid bare an uneven development of winter sports in Asia as it has included just five countries with one day left for the week-long Games.

Japan tops the table with 22 golds, followed by South Korea (16), China (12) and Kazakhstan (6).

Liu Jiayu and Zhang Yiwei won the women's and men's halfpipe gold medals.

Liu landed all her four airs to score 93.0 points in the first of her two runs, beating her teammate Cai Xuetong into second place by 14.50 points.

In the men's action, Zhang pulled off two flawless runs that earned him 90.50 and 93.50 points, either run is good enough to win him gold.

Chinese Li Zijun picked a silver from the women's figure skating which was won by South Korean Choi Da-bin who delivered a flawless free skate after leading the short program on Thursday.

The Chinese women's ice hockey team took a silver, too, after losing its last round robin game to Japan 6-1.

Japan opened the day with a women's slalom gold from Alpine skier Emi Hasegawa and then claimed the ski jumping team title.

South Korean Jung Dong-hyun captured the men's slalom gold.

The last day of the Asian Games has seven events up for grabs, including men's ice hockey and men's figure skating. Endit