Doha: Japan finally got one over their fierce swimming rivals China yesterday (Dec 4, 2006), when they won four of the seven gold medals on offer, restricting the Chinese to just two.
 
All four gold medals came in the late session, after Chinese swimmers dominated the earlier session, claiming two out of three gold medals.

Japan's standout swimmer Kosuke Kitajima, who was surprisingly beaten in the 50m breaststroke Sunday, proved too strong for the rest of the field in the 100m breaststroke.
 
The Olympic and world champion swam a time of 1:01.13 seconds, beating compatriot Makoto Yamashita into second place. The winner of the 50m, Vladislav Polyakov of Kazakhstan finished third.

There was another Japanese victory in the women's 200m butterfly as Yano Yuri surprised her more fancied compatriot Yuko Nakanishi, who was also the defending champion.
 
Yuri finished in a time of 2:09.08 seconds, with South Korean Choi Hye Ra finishing second ahead of Nakanishi.
 
Yuri said that she had believed in herself before the race. "I am very happy. I wanted to win. My coach said to me I must win and concentrate and not think about any other swimmers. I also want a medal next March at the World Championships."
 
Ryosuke Irie gave Japan a third gold medal in the afternoon session when he won the men's 200m backstroke from China's Ouyang Kunpeng and his teammate Takashi Nakano.
 
Irie clocked 1:58.85 seconds to give Japan their first victory over the distance since the 1986 Asian Games in Bangkok.
 
In the 4x200m freestyle relay, Japan's final swimmer Daisuke Hosokawa held off a fierce challenge from China's Zhang Lin to give the Japanese their fourth gold of the day in a time of 7:14.86 seconds.
 
The bronze went to South Korea.
 
In the earlier session, China scored a one-two in the women's 50m backstroke with Zhao Jing winning in a time of 28.69 seconds, beating Gao Chang into second place.
 
Japan's Reiko Nakamura, who earlier won gold over 200m backstroke finished third.
 
The women's 400m freestyle also ended in a one-two for the dominant Chinese as Yang Jiegiao took the gold in 4:12.75 seconds, beating her compatriot Zhu Wenrui by 1.7 seconds.
 
The bronze medal went to South Korea's Lee Ji Eun.
 
Yang said that she was not satisfied with her performance, even though she won.

"The time is ok, but not as good as I expected. I have many aspects that I need to improve. I am my biggest rival and I think I need to improve my strength and psychological steadiness."
 
Also in the earlier session German-born Rafd Almasri, who represents for Syria, was the surprise winner in the 50m freestyle as defending champion Kim Min Suk had already crashed out in the heats.
 
Almasri won in a time of 22.41 seconds, giving Syria only their second swimming gold medal at the Asian Games.
 
Almasri, whom the German federation had earlier tried to get to swim for their team, said he was well prepared for the race.

"It is my first big win in an international meet. In the upcoming World Championships, I definitely want to be in the finals and win a medal," he said
 
He said he hoped that the victory would encourage other Syrians to swim competitively.

"I hope my winning can increase the popularity of swimming in Syria, as swimming is not such a big sport as in Australia, or China or America," he said.
 
Almasri, whose family has been living in Germany for 40 years and who switched to studying sport from engineering, said he still had close contact with Syria.
 
The silver medal went to Japan's Makoto Ito, while Cai Li from China took the bronze.