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Zhou Jiawei races to 50m butterfly win
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-12-06 10:08

Asian record holder Zhou Jiawei opened the gold account for China with a men's 50m butterfly title on the fourth day of the swimming competition at the 15th Asian Games here on Tuesday.

Zhou raced to the victory in 23.94 seconds, 0.08 outside his own Asian record set in the National Championships in spring, which beat Japanese Ryo Takayasu's previous Asian best by five hundredths of a second.

Japanese national champion Takayasu took the silver in 24.11 and Chinese Wang Dong was third in 24.23.

Takashi Yamamoto, the 100m fly runner-up in the Athens Olympic Games, finished fourth in 24.26. He just became the first male swimmer to win the same individual event at three consecutive Asian Games after he defended his 100m fly crown on Sunday.