The pain of losing Liu Xiang to injury on Monday was lessened somewhat by the four more gold medals China picked up and the attention the Brazil-Argentina soccer match drew yesterday.

Though the loss of the ace hurdler - and the only possible gold in athletics - is irreparable, two gymnasts, a diver and a trampoline artist did their best to bring some smile back on Chinese faces.

The Brazil-Argentina clash, which many expected to be a do-or-die battle, turned out to be a one-sided affair, with the Argentines emerging 3-0 winners. To add injury to the Brazilians' insult, two of their players, Lucas and Thiago Neves, were red-carded.

The mercurial Lionel Messi of Argentina for once overshadowed his more famous Brazilian counterpart Ronaldinho. He seemed to be all over the place, and looked dangerous every time he moved closed to the box with the ball.

After a blank first half, Sergio Aguero deflected a rasping shot from Di Maria in the 52nd minute for the opener. He made it 2-0 six minutes later.

Aguero had a hand in the third goal too. He fetched Argentina a penalty after being brought down by Breno in the box. The cool Juan Requelme made no mistake with the spot kick.

China's Li Xiaopeng competes in the men's parrallel bars final of the artistic gymnastics event of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing on August 19, 2008. China's Li Xiaopeng won the gold, South Korea's Yoo Wonchul the silver and Uzbekistan's Anton Fokin the bronze. [Agencies]

At the gymnasium, China's Li Xiaopeng won the gold in parallel bars, heralding a strong comeback to the highest level. It was China's eighth gold in gymnastics. Li had won the parallel bars gold in Sydney 2000, too.

"The gold is heavy. It has great value for me for a lot of people have helped me win it," Li said later.

Zou Kai, who had won the floor exercise gold earlier, lifted the horizontal bar title, too, giving the host country its ninth gymnastics gold.

China's Zou Kai (L) celebrates with his coach after finishing his routine of the horizontal competition at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games in National Stadium in Beijing August 19, 2008. [Xinhua]

After three silvers, US gymnast Shawn Johnson finally won a gold, beating teammate Nastia Liukin and China's Cheng Fei on the balance beam.