NOVEMBER 19, 20 DAILY PAGE 3 TOP PERFORMERS Tao stakes claim to 50m crown

SINGAPOREAN STAR CLAIMS NO ONE IN ASIA CAN TOUCH HER AFTER DEFENDING TITLE

By LEI LEI In December 2006, she claimed CHINA DAILY the in the 50m butterfl y at the , beating — ’s China’s multi-gold winner Xu Tao Li defended her title in the Yanwei and breaking her own 50m butterfly on Thursday and national record in the process. now has her sights set on a podi- She became Singapore’s most um finish at the 2012 London successful medal-winning ath- Olympics. lete at the 2007 Southeast Asian “With this Games in Th ailand, winning four result, I can say I gold. have no opponent Earlier in the year, she also in the 50m butter- became the first Singaporean fl y in Asia,” said the China-born female swimmer to reach a FINA Singaporean. “I hope I continue to World Championships final, do well at the World Champion- finishing seventh in the 50m ships in Shanghai next year and butterfl y. then stand on the podium at the Tao made her Olympic debut at 2012 London .” the 2008 Games in Beijing. Tao led all the way on Th urs- She qualified for the 100m day in a time of 26.10 seconds, butterfly final, ranking fourth relegating favorite and Olympic aft er the semifi nals with a time silver medalist Jiao Liuyang of of 57.54 seconds and setting two China to fourth. Yuka Kato of Asian records in the process. She Japan won the silver in 26.27, also became the fi rst Singaporean followed by China’s in swimmer to make an Olympic 26.29. fi nal. She fi nished fi ft h in 57.99. Butterfl y star Jiao was described “After the 2008 Olympic by local media as being without Games, I haven’t performed well an opponent in the event at these for a long time. To prepare for games, and that only served to the Asian Games, I gave up on motivate Tao. the and Before the start of the race, focused on getting good results she put two fi ngers to her eyes, here,” said Tao. which meant that no one should “It was not easy for me to gain look down on her. this result as I went to study “Th e reports on Jiao motivated after the 2008 Olympics and me a lot,” said 20-year-old Tao, just picked up training again six who is studying sports adminis- months ago. tration at a university in Auckland, “I never could say I had no New Zealand. serious rivals in Asia before, but YANG SHIZHONG / CHINA DAILY Moving to Singapore from now I think my results can do the Tao Li of Singapore celebrates her win in the women’s 50m butterfl y swimming event at the 16th Asian China in 2002, Tao received a Sin- talking. I don’t think that is an Games in Guangzhou on Thursday. gapore citizenship in 2005. aggressive statement.” GOLD MEDALISTS >> OTHER OUTSTANDING ATHLETES

TAEKWONDO SWIMMING CYCLING Jordan wins Super Sun set HK’s Chan taekwondo gold Asian mark pedals to gold Gold medalist Nabil Has- China’s Sun Yang narrowly Hong Kong’s Chan Chun san of Jordan poses on the missed out on Grant Hack- Hing on Th ursday won the podium at the end of the ett’s 1,500m freestyle world men’s cross-country cycling men’s -80 kg taekwondo fi nal record on Th ursday, deny- gold at the Asian Games, ing ROK’s Park Tae-hwan with Kohei Yamamoto of at the Guangdong Stadium a fourth gold at the Asian Japan earning silver and in Guangzhou on Th urs- Games. China’s Duan Zhiqiang set- day. Hassan defeated Nesar Sun’s time of 14 minutes tling for bronze. Ahmad Bahawi of Afghani- 35.43 seconds was less than a Chan fi nished in two hours stan 4:3. second slower than Hackett’s 11 minutes 33.91 seconds, Th e bronze medals went to time of 14:34.56, but he still with Yamamoto 15 seconds China’s Zhao Lin and Iran’s obliterated the Asian record behind and Duan 2 minutes Farzad Abdollahi. by more than 10 seconds. 32.68 seconds off the winner. AFP YANG SHIZHONG / CHINA DAILY AFP