World champ Cheng Shuang wins while Olympic champ Zhou Yang left on bench
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Xinhua, January 8, 2012
World champion Cheng Shuang claimed the freestyle aerials compulsory title at the Chinese national winter Games while two-time Olympic short-track gold winner Zhou Yang skipped the women's individual pursuit competition here on Saturday.
Cheng, widely regarded as the flag-bearer of China's freestyle skiing aerials after Turin Olympic champion Han Xiaopeng and two-time Olympic silver medalist Li Nina retired, showed a solid form to win the women's compulsory event for Chanchun in 170.320 points in the Beidahu skiing resort in Jilin city.
However, the 24-year-old was not satisfied with her performance, as she won by only a narrow margin of 0.655 points.
"I am a little nervous today, maybe because I am competing in my home province. I want the gold so badly," said Cheng, who swept all the three women's aerials golds on offer during the previous edition of Chinese Winter Games.
"Since I tried to avoid any flaws, I was just kind of timid when I did the tricks. That was not my normal level," she added.
In the men's aerials compulsory event, the 18-year-old Zhou Hang from Qiqihar upset three Olympians for the gold with 204.274 points.
Vancouver Olympics bronze medallist Zhou Zhongqing settled for the silver with 201.101. The bronze went to Wang Shuang from Changchun.
Qi Guangpu and Jia Zongyang, who also took part in the Vancouver Games, both suffered from big mistakes in their first jumps, missing out on a podium finish.
As four-time Olympic champion Wang Meng was ruled out of the ongoing Winter Games due to a domestic suspension, Zhou Yang, who snatched women's 1500m and 3000m relay team golds at the 2010 Winter Olympics, is the biggest name in the short-track speedskating competitions in Changchun.
But Zhou was left on bench and didn't skate in the individual pursuit event Saturday, which was won by Xiao Hao of Jilin in one minute and 9.466 seconds.
Mudanjiang veteran Liu Qiuhong grabbed the silver in 1:09.533, and Han Yutong of Yanbian finished third in 1:09.723.
The men's individual pursuit title was claimed by local skater Yu Jiyang who finished the 7-lap race in 1:05.050. Song Yuan's Chen Dequan took the silver in 1:05.183 while Gong Qiuwen of Mudanjiang had the bronze in 1:05.312.
The snowboard parallel giant slalom, which is making debut in the national winter games, was overshadowed on Saturday by an accident in which freestyle moguls skier Lu Yue fell down on the snow when watching the competition and had her cruciate ligament torn and right knee fractured as well.
The 16-year-old Lu, who took a team bronze medal on Friday, was immediately sent to a nearby hospital and expected to rest for at least one year.
"Thank goodness. My competitions have all finished," said Lu, in pain but with relief.
Local skier Zhang Xuan and the PLA team's Niu Jiaqi took the men's and women's parallel giant slalom titles respectively.
The PLA team continued their overwhelming dominance in biathlon with Zhang Chengye pocketing the men's 12.5km pursuit gold in 38:34.1 while Tang Jialin winning the women's 10km pursuit in 36:45.5.
