体坛英语新闻：DPR Korea lifts women's soccer title, China cruises to women's basketball victory

WUHAN, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) -- DPR Korea beat China 2-1 to win the women's soccer title on Saturday at the Military Games in Wuhan, central China. The host China lifted the women's basketball trophy by defeating Brazil comfortably by 93-65.

China had collected 19 more gold medals as the tournament reached its penultimate day, spearheading the medal table with 131 golds.

Kim Yun-mi scored a brace to lead DPR Korea to women's soccer glory, edging China 2-1 in the final. Kim opened the scoring in the 51st minute, but Chinese captain Zhang Rui equalized the score with a powerful shot in the box for China seven minutes later. Kim's 85th minute goal sealed the victory for DPR Korea. Brazil beat South Korea 3-1 for the bronze.

The home fans received good news from women's basketball final later on the day as China had an easy 93-65 victory over Brazil to step on top of the podium.

"As a servicewoman I'm so excited to participate in the Games held in my homeland. I took part in the Olympic Games [as a player in 1992] and was not as excited as this time because everyone can participate in the Olympic Games, but only military personnel can compete in the Military World Games. [Today] we defended our glory by taking the title, which I feel very proud about," said China's 55-year-old coach Zhan Shuping.

Being 46-32 down at halftime in the bronze medal match, the United States extended forced the game into overtime with a three-pointer in the closing seconds and beat France 85-79 to claim the bronze.

Lithuania was crowned men's basketball champion after beating the United States 91-83 in the final. China edged Brazil 68-64 for the third place.

In track and field competitions, Zhu Yaming won men's triple jump with a result of 17.09m and the rest five golds in athletics was split up between Bahrain and Poland, who triumphed in men's and women's 4X400m relay respectively. Michal Rozmys of Poland crossed the finish line first in men's 1,500m in 3:46.33 while Birhanu Balew claimed men's 5,000m win in 14:08.99.

"We are the best team and we trained very hard. We want a medal at the Olympic Games," said the men's 4X400m winner Malgorzata Holub Kowalik.

Elsewhere, China swept the podium in four of the five badminton events except for men's singles, which saw Lu Guangzu of China had retired due to injury in the second game, trailing 4-2 despite having one game in hand against Heo Kwang-hee of South Korea.

Fan Zhendong and Mu Zi wrapped up China's gold sweep in table tennis, winning men's and women's singles respectively.

"I feel very happy. It's a big privilege for me to attend the Military World Games as a soldier. This was also the first time table tennis has become an event at the Military Games and I have won four gold medals," said world No. 2 player Fan, adding that this Games has been a memorable experience.

Russia was the biggest winner in taekwondo, grabbing three golds out of the four on offer, with Maksim Khramtsov and Rafael Kamalov winning men's -80kg and -87kg respectively. Elena Evlampeva added another for Russia in women's -57kg category while China's Zhang Mengyu took women's -67kg title.

One more day to go before the Games' closing, China had a huge lead on the medal standings with 131 golds. Russia had 49 to sit second while Brazil is third with 20.