Women's football team narrowly advances to final, while China and US athletics teams finally get on the scoreboard.
Shenzhen, August 19 (Xinhua Sports) - After a dramatic semi-final of the Universiade women's football match on the 19th, Chinese goalkeeper Wang Fei's "five-finger gate" ultimately kept Brazil out of the final during the penalty shootout. On the track and field, both the host Chinese team and the traditional powerhouse American team have finally started scoring.
In the Sino-Brazilian women's football match at the 20-minute mark, Chinese captain Bi Yan scored the first goal via a penalty kick. Although Brazil wasted a great opportunity for an open-net goal just before the end of the game, Batista hit the post with a diagonal shot in the penalty area which then bounced into the net, miraculously bringing the Brazilian women's football team a chance for a penalty shootout.
In the penalty shootout, the initial shots by Bi Yan and Guedes were both saved. However, Wang Fei, who twice brushed her fingertips against the ball, eventually blocked Brazil's last penalty. 5:4! The Chinese girls broke out in cold sweat but still laughed last. They will compete with Japan for the championship.
In contrast, the semi-final of the Chinese women's volleyball team was uneventful, easily defeating Russia 3:0. In the final, they will face Brazil, but the scores of all three sets were relatively close.
After gaining 11 gold medals on that day, China leads the gold medal tally with 39 golds, 18 silvers, and 20 bronzes. Track and field has finally contributed one gold medal, with Chinese athletes Shi Yang, Wang Shan Shan, and Yang Ya Wei winning the women's 20 km race walk team gold, although their individual performances did not make it into the top three.
The American track and field team also got on the scoreboard simultaneously with the Chinese team. They clearly did not send their best college athletes, but the two hurdle events, men's 400m hurdles and women's 100m hurdles, salvaged some face.
On the 19th, the Chinese army became the big winner in the shooting events, taking 4 out of 5 golds, only letting the men's 50m rifle prone team champion slip to Belarus. Ding Feng, Zhou Zhiguo, and Li Yuehong not only won the 25m rapid fire pistol team gold but also swept the podium places in this event. The female team composed of Li Peijing, Wang Chengyi, and Lan Yuwen also won very smoothly, not only securing the women's 50m rifle prone team gold but also having the first two secure the individual event's crown and runner-up.
On the swimming closing day, Sun Ye, who was swimming second-last in the first half of the women's 100m breaststroke, staged a "stunning comeback" in the second half, winning with a time of 1 minute and 7.53 seconds, securing the 6th swimming gold for the Chinese team. She herself has become the second "triple crown king" after Lu Ying for the Chinese aquatic forces in this Universiade.
In another focal battle, the men's 4x100m medley relay, the Japanese team led by star Ryuji Irie maintained the lead throughout, ultimately winning with a time of 3 minutes and 35.02 seconds, surpassing the American team to claim the title. He himself also secured his third gold medal in Shenzhen.
China's "Dream Teams" continue to advance triumphantly. In diving, Lin Jin and Olympic champions Wang Xin/Chen Ruolin secured the men's 1m springboard and women's synchronized 10m platform golds for the Chinese team; Xu Xin/Yan An and Rao Jingwen/Ma Yuefei respectively won the table tennis men's and women's doubles championships.
On the tennis court, the only remaining Chinese players Guo Lu and Li Ting eliminated the Mexican duo in the women's doubles semi-finals and will face the No. 3 seeds, the Japanese pair of Aoi Yamashita and Hisaya Takahashi, in the final.
South Korea swept all three gold medals in the traditional taekwondo poomsae events on the 19th, winning the men's and women's poomsae team and mixed poomsae team events. South Korea currently has the same number of gold medals as Japan at 17, but due to fewer total medals, it ranks fourth behind Japan in the gold medal standings. Russia is temporarily in second place with 24 golds.