`Flying Spectacles Man' surges ahead in men's 100

Taiwan's Wang Shih-wen, right, smiles after finishing third in the men's 100m in Macau on Monday. Wang's fellow countryman Lu Yuan-kai, left, finished in fourth place with 10.65 seconds. PHOTO: AFP

Hu Kai and Qin Wangping won the men's and women's 100m titles and six other athletes clinched gold as China got off to a roaring start on day one of track and field competition at the East Asian Games.

After two false starts yesterday, the bespectacled Hu -- dubbed "The Flying Spectacles Man" after his win at the World University Games in August -- surged ahead of the field, clocking 10.40 seconds.

In the women's sprint, Qin and compatriot Shu Yan broke away from the pack for a Chinese gold-silver sweep. Japan's Ayumi Suzuki was nearly 0.20 seconds behind Shu.

The men's competition was more tightly contested. Japan's Shingo Kawabata took silver with a time of 10.54. Taiwan's Wang Shih-wen finished in 10.63 for bronze.

Hu, 23, said he peaked during China's recent national games, in which he won silver, and wasn't fully prepared for Macau.

"I'm happy enough that I won," Hu told reporters. He said the false starts helped him get settled.

"What happened gave me room to adjust," Hu said.

Members of the Taiwanese women's basketball team celebrate after beating Japan during their preliminary match of the East Asian Games in Macau yesterday. Taiwan won the match 69-68. PHOTO: AP

Meanwhile, 23-year-old Qin rated her performance as only "OK." She said she felt pressure because she didn't compete in heats.

"If there were heats I could have adjusted my rhythm. Since there was only one race, I just did my best," she said.

Not needing their best to win has been a theme for Chinese athletes in general at these games.

The Chinese are often in a class of their own among a relatively weak nine-nation field that includes smaller territories like Hong Kong and Macau.

But the Chinese are competing in Macau as part of a buildup to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. The recent national games in Nanjing was the first stage, Macau is the second, and the next is the 2006 Asian Games in Doha.

China's biggest track star, Olympic 110-meter hurdles champion Liu Xiang, is racing today.

In other Chinese triumphs, Wu Tao won the discus throw, Bao Guiying prevailed in the 10,000 meters, Jing Xuezhu took the high jump title and Li Meiju was the top shot putter.

Bao's time of 32 minutes, 35.07 seconds was well slower than her personal best, and more than three minutes behind the world record held by her compatriot Wang Junxia.

But that was enough to stave off Japan's Hiromi Ominami (32:36.62), the only runner who kept up with her. North Korea's Paek Hyan Gok was third in 34:53.06.

Bao said she wasn't happy with her time, despite the relative ease of her win.

"For me, the result isn't too satisfactory," she said.

Shot putter Li's winning 18.12-meter throw came on the first of her five attempts. Japan's Yoko Toyonaga was second with a personal best of 16.89.

High jumper Jing was perfect up to 1.85 meters but failed to clear 1.90 three times. But she still edged compatriot Zheng Xingjuan on a countback and Japan's Mai Yonezu was third.

Elsewhere, the prospect of China winning the coveted basketball title was only enhanced in a 81-54 win over Mongolia, extending its sequence to 4-0.

NBA prospect Yi Jianlian had only 10 minutes on the court Tuesday, scoring nine points.

In other basketball preliminaries, South Korea thrashed Hong Kong 104-50 and Taiwan -- which went within three points of China in its previous match -- beat Macau 91-57.