Olympic champion Apolo Anton Ohno of the United States beat archrival Ahn Hyun-Soo of South Korea to win the men's 1,500m race at the short-track speed skating World Cup which opened on Friday in Hangzhou.

Apolo, who won the title of men's 1,500m in Salt Lake Winter Olympics, ended up with a time of two minute, 20.146 seconds to claim his first title of the season.

Ahn, who set the 1,500m world mark in 2:10.639 at Marquette in 2003, came in second in 2:20.254. The South Korean also holds the world record of 3,000m in 4:32.646.

The bronze medal went to Chinese Li Ye, who clocked in 2:20.404. This is his best result in World Cup tournaments.

Chinese skater Li Jiajun, Olympic silver medalist at Salt Lake City, was disqualified for impeding other skaters in a semi-final race.

Earlier on Friday, Wang Meng won the first gold medal for China with a time of two minutes 23.375 seconds.

Jin Sun-Yu of South Korea was second in 2:23.440 and her countrywoman Byun Chun-Sa third in 2:24.022.

Source: Xinhua