China clean sweep of all golds at Winter Asiad women's biathlon

China made a clean sweep of all the gold medals in the women's biathlon events at the Asian Winter Games after they claimed the 4x6km relay at Beidahu, Jilin city on Friday.

The Chinese quartet, comprising of Kong Yingchao, Dong Xue, Yin Qiao and Liu Xianying, clocked one hour 29 minutes and 3.1 seconds to win the fourth biathlon gold medal for China.

Liu, 30, became the the only athlete who won three golds in the Winter Asiad after winning 7.5km sprint and 15km individual events on Jan. 29 and Feb. 1 respectively. Another Chinese ace Kong also claimed the 10km pursuit title on Jan. 30.

Kazakhstan was second with 3 minutes and 22.9 seconds adrift while Japan finished third 2 minutes and 25.3 seconds further back in the relay competition.

"We know the gold medal will go to China since they have so many excellent skiers at the Asian Winter Games and they had done a good job in the World Cup this season, we have to compete with Japan for the second place, so I'm happy that we finally beat them," said Yelena Khrustaleva, the last skier for the Kazakhstan biathlon relay team.

"Chinese athletes are the best right now (in Asia), but we don't feel stressed. Some cross-country skiers were selected to join the biathlon team in my country and we will be strengthened and see what will happen in the next few years," she added.

The 7th Asian Winter Games will be held at Almaty, Kazakhstan, and the central Asian country is also in a bid to host the 2014 winter Olympics.

"It is great for China to win four biathlon gold medals in the Asian Winter Games, we began well and finished well, but the result is more important, we must win the competition with a cushion of four minutes or so," said Klaus Siebert, head coach of the Chinese biathlon team after the match.

"Veterans Kong and Liu played a crucial role in the national team and youngsters Dong and Yin improves fast but still need stability."

"We will be leaving tomorrow for the World Championships and World Cup series in Finland and Russia." Siebert added.

Source: Xinhua