Gold medalist Wang Jianjiahe (C) of China attends the awarding ceremony of the women's 400m freestyle final of swimming at the 7th International Military Sports Council (CISM) Military World Games in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province, Oct. 19, 2019. (Xinhua/Cheng Min)
Host China is the biggest winner on Day 1 of the Wuhan Military World Games, bagging the tournament's first gold and over half of the gold medals on offer.
WUHAN, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Host China stood on top of the medal tally with 12 golds out of 22 on offer after the first matchday of the 7th Military World Games here on Saturday. Russia trailed with four gold medals while France and Uzbekistan had two apiece.
Jin Yongde, Xie Zhenxiang and Yao Zhaonan helped China clinch the tournament's first gold in 25m military rapid fire pistol men's team event, scoring a total of 1,747 points for the championship. Russia took the sliver with 1,743 points and the DPR Korea settled for third place with 1,742 points.
In another military sport event, Liao Weihua came first with 3,500 points in the flying contest of aeronautical pentathlon.
Gao Zheng of China competes during the team competition of the Men's 25m Military Rapid Fire Pistol of the 7th CISM Military World Games in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province, Oct. 19, 2019. (Xinhua/Jiang Kehong)
China reaped heavily in the swimming pool, collecting a total of six golds, with Wang Jianjiahe triumphing in women's 400m freestyle with a event-record time of four minutes 4.42 seconds. Wuhan native Zhang Yuhan finished second in front of buzzing home crowd followed by Anna Egorova of Russia.
"I am so excited and my family were also present today," Zhang said. "The Games record was set by me four years ago in Mungyeong, South Korea. Today my teammate [Wang] and I both got into the final and I feel happy that she broke my record."
Zhu Menghui also set women's 50m freestyle record finishing in 24.81. Li Guangyuan (54.50) and Liu Yaxin (2:09.92) won men's 100m and women's 200m backstroke respectively, before China secured the victory in women's 4X100m medley relay in 4:00.16 and men's 4X200m freestyle relay with a time of 7:13.35.
Wang Jianjiahe of China competes during the women's 400m freestyle final of swimming at the 7th International Military Sports Council (CISM) Military World Games in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province, Oct. 19, 2019. (Xinhua/Cheng Min)
Russia's Vladislav Grinev triumphed in men's 50m freestyle in 22.33 while compatriot Anton Chupkov edged home favorite Yan Zibei in the last 25m to touch home first and refreshed the record by 59.17 in men's 100m breaststroke. However, the Russian is not satisfied with the result.
"It was not my best time, which is 59.06," Chupkov said.
"Yan Zibei is a legend in China. He has a bronze medal at the [Gwangju 2019] World Championships. It is very interesting to swim with him," he added.
In men's individual foil, Timur Safin of Russia ousted reigning world champion Enzo Lefort of France 15-14 in semifinal and stepped on top of the podium after beating another Frenchman Maxime Pauty 15-9 in final.
"My emotions are just the best. It is always nice to win, especially at this kind of competition," said the Rio 2016 bronze medalist.
Anton Vorobyev of Russia competes during the men's individual time trial final of the cycling road at the 7th International Military Sports Council (CISM) Military World Games in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province, Oct. 19, 2019. (Xinhua/Xiong Qi)
Sun Yiwen added another gold for China in women's individual epee, edging Ana Popescu of Romania 11-10. Tatiana Andriushina of Russia had a bronze.
"I am really proud that I achieved a medal over here for my country. Every medal is important for me," Popescu said.
Elsewhere, cyclists Severine Eraud and Juliette Labous had a one-two for France in women's individual time trial. Eraud clocked 21 minutes and 23.278 seconds, closely followed by teammate Labous in 21:23.315. Russia's Anton Volrobyev claimed the men's individual time trial gold in 38:32.645. ■