China wins track cycling women's team sprint at Asiad

JAKARTA - Chinese cyclists Zhong Tianshi and Lin Junhong snatched the gold of the women's track cycling team sprint at the 2018 Asian Games here on Monday.

The Chinese duo surged to an impressive winning time of 33.118 seconds for the gold, beating Lee Wai Sze and Ma Wing Yu of Hong Kong, China in 35.024 in the final.

"We did really well today, even it was not our best performance. Now our goal is to win the gold in the coming 2020 Olympics," said Zhong, who claimed China's first cycling Olympic gold with Gong Jinjie by winning the women's team sprint in Rio two years ago.

Zhong and Lin also clocked in a time of 32.936 seconds to set a new game record in the qualifying round.

"Lin is one of my best friends, we were enrolled in the national team in the same year in 2009. We have been roommates for many years. She is a good partner. I trust her, we can win more golds in the future," added Zhong.

South Korea defeated Japan to take the bronze.

Earlier, China beat Malaysia to win the gold of the men's team sprint, while Japan got the bronze by defeating South Korea.

The women's team sprint is a track cycling event contested by teams of two women cyclists. The format consists of two rounds: in the first round, teams compete against the clock to set a qualifying time. The top four teams go through to the final round, where the first and second placed teams compete against each other in the gold medal race-off and the third and fourth teams compete against each other in the bronze medal race-off.

The 18th Asiad will stage 465 events out of 40 sports, among which 330 events from 32 sports will feature in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The 2018 Asian Games, attracting more than 10,000 athletes, will run through Sept. 2.