体坛英语新闻：Russia tops medal table, Sochi sets Paralympic records

SOCHI, March 16 (Xinhua) -- Russia led the medal tally through the 10-day Sochi Winter Paralympic Games with 80 medals, while the Games also set a number of new records.

Russia finished the Sochi Winter Paralympic Games with another haul of gold medals on Sunday. Roman Petushkov set the tone for the cross-country competition from the very first event, winning gold for Russia in the 10km sitting event.

In total, Russia finished with 32 medals, including 12 gold, nine silver and 11 bronze in this sport.

Russia only got empty-handed in one out of the 20 cross-country events, which was the women's 5km sitting. In the men's 1km sprint, Russians filled all six final places.

Two more Russians, Anna Milenina and Rushan Minnegulov, won two gold medals each, both in the standing classification.

Ukraine finished second in terms of cross-country medals, but Canada ranked second overall with four medals, all of them gold.

According to organizers, the Sochi Winter Games produced a string of records besides in the competition arenas, eclipsing the Vancouver Games for tickets sold and media attendance.

"We delivered on our promise," Sochi 2014 president and chief executive Dmitry Chernyshenko said. "The Games helped spread the Paralympic values across the country, and that is the greatest outcome of the Games."

Sochi sold a record 325,000 tickets, 95,000 more than Vancouver, and sponsorship yielded 97 million U.S. dollars.

More than 2,000 media representatives have the Paralympics, compared with Vancouver's 1,200. Thirty-eight broadcasters covered the Games, with several major broadcasters substantially increasing their coverage.

International Paralympic Committee media director Craig Spence said it was a big feat to have increased the Paralympics' reach to the rest of the world.

At Sochi 2014, 45 countries and regions competed for 72 sets of medals, eight more than in Vancouver. Dmitry Kozak, Russia's deputy prime minister, said it had taken a large and dedicated team to "beat all kinds of records".

"We've worked for seven years with a huge team, hundreds of thousands of people in Sochi and beyond," Kozak said.

International Paralympic Committee president Philip Craven predicted the records would continue to be set beyond the Sochi.

"I am looking forward to Rio and PyeongChang. Sochi has put the gauntlet down for PyeongChang. That's very sports-minded. It's a competition, but a good and fair competition," he said.