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China wins men's biathlon relay at Winter Asiad
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-02-02 16:59

JILIN, Northeast China - China wound up the biathlon competitions of the sixth Asian Winter Games in style by winning the men's relay race here Friday afternoon.

The Chinese team, composed by Zhang Qing, Ren Long, Zhang Chengye and Tian Ye, crossed the line in one hour 35 minutes and 51.5 seconds to grab the first biathlon gold medal of China in the men's event.

China wins men's biathlon relay at Winter Asiad
China's Zhang Qing, Ren Long, Zhang Chengye and Tian Ye pose on the podium after they won the men's 4X7.5km biathlon relay at the 6th Asian Winter Games February 2, 2007. [Xinhua]

With the come-from-behind victory, China took five of the seven titles on offer in the biathlon competitions at this Games.

China wins men's biathlon relay at Winter Asiad
China's Tian Ye competes in the men's 4X7.5km biathlon relay at the 6th Asian Winter Games February 2, 2007. The Chinese squad composed by Zhang Qing, Ren Long, Zhang Chengye and Tian Ye won the gold. [Xinhua]

"We are very happy to win the last event of the biathlon competitions, the men's relay is an event of great importance," said Zhang Qing, silver medalist in Thursday's men's 20km individual race.

"We will set off for the World Championship in Italy on Saturday. We will try our best to achieve good result there," Zhang added.

Japan took the silver with 1:36:35.9 and Kazakhstan was third in 1:39:26.7.

Earlier on Friday, Liu Xianying and Kong Yingchao led teammates for the victory in the women's relay.