体坛英语新闻：Day-9 Roundup: China keeps slim lead as Russia chases closely at Winter Universiade

HARBIN, Northeast China, Feb. 27 (Xinhua) -- China had one more gold from the 10 titles on offer while Russia collect three more on Friday, chasing closely against the host at the medal tally of the Harbin Winter Universiade.

    With the last three golds to be offered on Saturday, China held a temporary lead as both teams had an identical 17 golds, and the host only edged over Russia on the number of silvers (18-12).

    Of its 17 golds, Russia had 10 from the cross country skiing, a clean sweep in the sport, six from biathlon and one from snowboarding, and is in great shape to stand atop of the tally at the end of the Universiade as two of the last three golds were from the biathlon mass start events.

    On the penultimate day, Russia collected the last two titles in the cross country skiing in Yabuli, another venue some 200km away.

    Artem Zhmurko clocked one hour, 27 minutes and 0.7 seconds for the men's 30 kilometers classical while Marina Chernousova led a Russian domination of top four places in the women's 15 kilometers race.

    Petr Novak of the Czech Republic got the silver and IIya Mashkovof Russia had the bronze.

    In the women's action, Chernousova notched up a winning time of 48 minutes and 2.3 seconds, edging silver medal winner Julia Ivanova by one second. Yulia Tchekaleva and Olga Kuziukova finished third and fourth respectively.

    As the cross-country lowered its curtain, Russia collected a total of ten golds, five silvers and seven bronzes. Japan was a distant second with two silvers while Ukraine and the Czech Republic each took home one silver and one bronze.

    In Maoershan, Russian biathletes, led by Anna Kunaeva in women's2X6km and Sergey Balandin in men's 2X7.5km, shrugged aside eight missed targets to win the mixed relay in one hour 16 minutes and 57.7 seconds.

    France finished second in 1:19:09.5 with six missed targets and Ukraine stood third in 1:19:41.8 after missing 13 targets.

    So far, the Russian biathletes have wrapped up six of seven golds on offer with their sole defeat to Ukraine in the men's pursuit on Wednesday.

    Switzerland had two gold medals when Sandro Boner won his third title from the men's combined in Alpine skiing, following his victories in the downhill and super-G, and Dimitri Cuche won the men's slalom for his double victories.

    Cuche finished two runs in one minute and 33.98 seconds for his second title, following his victory in the giant slalom on Wednesday. Manuel Pescollderungg from Italy was edged down by 0.88 points, and Frenchman Jonathan Midol was in third.

    Also in Maoershan, Japanese snowboarder Kazuhiro Kokubo, runner-up in the 2007 world championship, won the men's big air where Pekka Ruokanen of Finland finished second and Russia's Dmitry Mindrul stood third.

    It was also Kazuhiro's second gold after his triumph at the half-pipe contest on Wednesday.

    Host China also had one more gold to keep the lead at the overall table, beating Canada 6-5 to win the women's curling title for its 17th gold.

    It is the first-ever gold the Chinese women claimed at international all-round sports competitions, also the best-ever achievement they made in world arena.

    In front of home fans, China had a great start by upsetting Canada 4-2 after the first five ends. Canada claimed back two points in the seventh end, before China earned a three-point in the key 10th end as Canada made fatal mistakes with an invalid shot.

    Both China and Canada breezed into the women's final after winning over Russia and Britain on Thursday respectively.

    In the men's final, Sweden downed Norway 8-7 for the crown after it had a 2-0 lead in the first end. Both teams fought tit-for-tat when they held a 7-7 tie after 10 ends and Sweden won the winner in the extra end.

    The two teams advanced to the final after beating China and South Korea 8-7 and 5-2 respectively.

    Canada won the last gold of the day when it beat China 3-1 in the women's ice hockey, while Finland got the bronze medal, overcoming Slovakia 3-2.

    So far, China led the medal tally with 17 golds, 18 silvers and 12 bronzes, while Russia stood closely second with 17 golds, 12 silvers and 17 bronzes.

    Russia had the great chance to overtake China at the top of the tally as it already made the men's ice hockey final and their biathletes were in shape for the last two events of mass start in Maoershan