Gold joy for China, as 'Blade Runner' prepares

LONDON (AFP) –

China’s Cheng Huang (C) celebrates winning the gold medal in the AS men single sculls with silver medallist Australia’a Erik Horrie (L) and bronze medallist Russia’s Aleksey Chuvashev during the London 2012 Paralympic Game

China on Sunday powered to two golds in rowing and asserted its dominance in table tennis, as Paralympics talisman Oscar Pistorius geared up to defend the first of his three sprint titles.

Rower Huang Cheng provided a major upset by storming to victory in the men’s arms-only (ASM1x) single sculls to inflict the first defeat in British favourite Tom Aggar’s five-year international career.

The 30-year-old blitzed the field to finish the 1km course west of London in 4min 52.36sec, three seconds ahead of Australia’s Erik Horrie, while Aleksey Chuvashev of Russia came third.

Huang said he was “very excited” by his win and after lowering Aggar’s world record in qualifying but the British rower said he was “devastated” to have lost his unbeaten record and Paralympic title.

“Going in I was favourite on paper and had great preparation. But when asked for more today it just wasn’t there. The standard has moved on massively and I just wasn’t myself today. I will be back. I’m a fighter through and through,” he added.

Huang’s victory was one of two rowing golds for China, with with world champions Fei Tianming and Lou Xiaoxian winning the trunk and arms mixed double sculls (TAMix2x), also after posting a world best time in qualifying.

South Africa’s Oscar Pistorius competes in the men’s 200m T44 athletics round 1 during the London 2012 Paralympic Games at the Olympic Stadium in east London. Switzerland’s Edith Wolf regained her T54 5,000m Paralympic crown and Kelly Cartwright of Australia jumped to glory, as Oscar Pistorius geared up to defend the first of his three sprint titles.

The victories — plus three wins in six of the 11 gold medal matches played in table tennis by late afternoon — helped China stretch its lead at the top of the overall medal table, after they started the day with 56 medals, including 20 gold.

In the women’s arms-only (ASW1x) single sculls, two-time world champion Alla Lysenko of Ukraine took gold, while Britain gave the home crowd some cheer by taking the legs, trunks and arms (LTAMix4+) mixed coxed four.

As the curtain came down on track cycling, China tied with Britain on five golds but the host nation topped the table with more silver and bronze.

In the mixed C1-5 team sprint over three laps, China set a new world record to beat Britain and the United States, while New Zealand’s Philippa Gray and Laura Thompson took the 3km individual pursuit for blind and visually impaired riders in a new world best.

Anthony Kappes and Craig MacLean took the all-British final of the men’s individual sprint in the same category.

In athletics, Switzerland’s Edith Wolf won the T54 5,000m, crossing the line just ahead of Shirley Reilly of the United States and Christie Dawes of Australia

Kelly Cartwright of Australia took gold in the women’s F42/44 long jump, setting a new record after jumping 4.38m, which in combined class field events is converted into points.

Britain’s Pamela Relph, Naomi Riches, Davis Smith, James Roe and Lily van den Broecke row off with their gold medals after winning the LTA mixed coxed four in Eton Dorney. Switzerland’s Edith Wolf regained her T54 5,000m Paralympic crown and Kelly Cartwright of Australia jumped to glory, as Oscar Pistorius geared up to defend the first of his three sprint titles.

Her score of 1,030 was good enough to beat Britain’s New Zealand-born Stef Reid, who competed for Canada in Beijing, and France’s Marie-Amelie le Fur, into silver and bronze.

The two finals came before the evening session, which sees “Blade Runner” Oscar Pistorius go in the T44 200m after setting a new world best of 21.30sec in Saturday’s heat.

The 25-year-old — the Games’ biggest name after he became the first double-amputee to compete in the Olympics — is the defending champion in the 100m, 200m and 400m.

Britain’s David Weir will then renew his rivalry with Australia’s Kurt Fearnley and the Swiss “Silver Bullet” Marcel Hug in the T54 5,000m final.

Meanwhile, Games organisers defended their decision not to drug-test every medal winner, insisting that the procedures were tight enough to prevent dope-cheats prospering.

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) said testing at least one medallist and random checks on other competitors were enough of a deterrent to prevent violations.