LONDON — China Sunday powered to two golds in rowing and asserted its dominance in table tennis, as Paralympics talisman Oscar Pistorius geared up to defend the first of his three sprint titles. Rower Huang Cheng provided a major upset by storming to victory in the men's arms-only (ASM1x) single sculls to inflict the first defeat in British favorite Tom Aggar's five-year international career. The 30-year-old blitzed the field to finish the 1km course west of London in 4min 52.36sec, three seconds ahead of Australia's Erik Horrie, while Aleksey Chuvashev of Russia came third. Huang said he was “very excited” by his win and after lowering Aggar's world record in qualifying but the British rower said he was “devastated” to have lost his unbeaten record and Paralympic title. “Going in I was favorite on paper and had great preparation. But when asked for more today it just wasn't there. The standard has moved on massively and I just wasn't myself today. I will be back. I'm a fighter through and through,” he added. Huang's victory was one of two rowing golds for China, with with world champions Fei Tianming and Lou Xiaoxian winning the trunk and arms mixed double sculls (TAMix2x), also after posting a world best time in qualifying. The victories — plus three wins in six of the 11 gold medal matches played in table tennis by late afternoon — helped China stretch its lead at the top of the overall medal table, after it started the day with 56 medals, including 20 gold. In the women's arms-only (ASW1x) single sculls, two-time world champion Alla Lysenko of Ukraine took gold, while Britain gave the home crowd some cheer by taking the legs, trunks and arms (LTAMix4+) mixed coxed four. As the curtain came down on track cycling, China tied with Britain on five golds but the host nation topped the table with more silver and bronze. In the mixed C1-5 team sprint over three laps, China set a new world record to beat Britain and the US, while New Zealand's Philippa Gray and Laura Thompson took the 3km individual pursuit for blind and visually impaired riders in a new world best. Anthony Kappes and Craig MacLean took the all-British final of the men's individual sprint in the same category. In athletics, Switzerland's Edith Wolf won the T54 5,000m, crossing the line just ahead of Shirley Reilly of the US and Christie Dawes of Australia. Kelly Cartwright of Australia took gold in the women's F42/44 long jump, setting a new record after jumping 4.38m, which in combined class field events is converted into points. Her score of 1,030 was good enough to beat Britain's New Zealand-born Stef Reid, who competed for Canada in Beijing, and France's Marie-Amelie le Fur, into silver and bronze. The two finals came before the evening session, which was to see “Blade Runner” Oscar Pistorius go in the T44 200m after setting a new world best of 21.30sec in Saturday's heat. The 25-year-old — the Games' biggest name after he became the first double-amputee to compete in the Olympics — is the defending champion in the 100m, 200m and 400m. Britain's David Weir will then renew his rivalry with Australia's Kurt Fearnley and the Swiss “Silver Bullet” Marcel Hug in the T54 5,000m final. Meanwhile, Games organizers defended their decision not to drug-test every medal winner, insisting that the procedures were tight enough to prevent dope-cheats prospering. On Saturday, Irish runner Jason Smyth became the fastest Paralympian in history over 100m. Smyth gave a stunning performance in the T13 100m, streaking to victory in 10.46sec, breaking the previous world best of 10.54sec that he set in qualifying Friday night. The 25-year-old, who is visually impaired and like Pistorius also competes in non-disabled races, trains with US sprint star Tyson Gay in Florida and has said it is possible to have a Paralympian run under 10sec in the straight sprint. — Agencies
