体坛英语新闻：Day-9 Roundup: China's 200m mark improved, Zhejiang swimmers dominate National Games pool

TIANJIN, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- Beijing worlds' relay runner-up Xie Zhenye sprinted to an easy victory of the men's 200m and improved his own national record by 0.2 seconds, while his fellow Zhejiang teammates won three out of four golds in the National Games pool here on Tuesday.

The 24-year-old sprinter, who was just crowned in the men's 100m final two days ago, timed in 20.20 seconds to shatter the previous mark of 20.40 that he set in last May's Diamond League Shanghai tournament.

Guangdong's Liang Jingsheng settled for the runner-up position at 0.54 seconds and Bie Ke from Chongqing was the third at further 0.04.

Xie was a member of China's 4X100m relay team that won a historic silver in Beijing 2015 and placed fourth in this year's London worlds, alongside with last National Games' 100m and 200m title-winning sprinter Zhang Peimeng and London worlds' 100m finalist Su Bingtian.

Other four finals have been competed on track and field in Tuesday's National Games, where a total of 22 gold medals were on offer in the sports including golf, gymnastics, table tennis, taekwondo, weightlifting and wrestling.

Hunan's 20-year-old sprinter Huang Guifen claimed a surprising win with a time of 23.24 seconds in the women's 200m final, beating Yuan Qiqi of Jiangsu, who led through out the sprint but falling on the finishing line.

Tibet long-distance runners drew the spot light in the men's 10,000m race with Duobujie and Mijuenima respectively finishing as the winner and the third placed, both resulting in their personal best.

The mixed 4X400m relay, which has been included in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic programs, saw quartets from Shandong, Jiangsu and Sichuan on podium, while Hebei's Su Xinyue was crowned at women's discus throw.

World shot put champion Gong Lijiao made her first show at the National Games, breezing into the event's final on 18.60 meters.

In the swimming pool, newly-crowned world champion Xu Jiayu proved his reputation by winning the men's 200m backstroke in 1:55.42, his third title at the quadrennial sports gala following victories in 100m backstroke and 4X200m freestyle relay.

The 22-year-old Zhejiang native, winner in men's 100m backstroke in FINA World Championships in Budapest last July, could be placed the 6th with the result in the swimming governing body's world rankings.

"I felt tired as I have competed in so many events, not only my backstroke events, but also in the 100m and 200m freestyle relays. My target is to try my best in 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games," said Xu.

His Zhejiang teammate Wang Shun also grabbed the third victory of his own at the Games as the world bronze medalist defended his title in the men's 200m medley in 1:57.02, beating 18-year-old Qin Haiyang of Chinese Army by 0.69 seconds.

Zhu Menghui later rounded up the hat-trick feat of Zhejiang swimmers on Tuesday, storming home first in the women's 100m freestyle in 53.40, a personal best result for the 18-year-old talent.

Shi Jinglin of Jiangsu retained her 200m breaststroke in 2:22.66, followed by 15-year-old Zheng Muyan of Tianjin in 2:25.19 and Yu Jingyao of Beijing in 2:25.82.

On the women's beach volleyball court, Beijing Olympic bronze medalist and defending champion Xue Chen and her new partner Ma Yuanyuan swept Xia Xinyi and Wen Shuhui 2-0 to set up a final clash against Wang Fan/Yue Yuan.

Xue, who captured the gold medal of the event four years ago with Zhang Xi, reaped the 21-10, 21-19 victory with Ma in the semifinals where Wang/Yue beat Chen Chunxia/Wei Zhaochen 21-19, 22-20.

"We started to play together about two weeks ago, we never expected to go this far," said the 28-year-old Xue. "We just tried to take one match at a time and it feels good to be in the final again."

In the men's semifinals, Gao Peng/Li Yang beat Halikejiang/Bao Jian 2-0 while defending champions Li Zhuoxin/Zhang Lixin lost to Chen Cheng/Li Jian 21-16, 21-14.

At table tennis, the younger pair of Zhou Yu and Fan Zhendong, representing the Chinese Army, beat a Beijing-Shanghai combination of Olympic and world champion Ma Long and Xu Xin 4-3 to take the men's doubles title, while Gu Yuting of Shandong and the PLA's Mu Zi were crowned at the women's doubles.