The Chinese athletics team grabbed the second gold medal at the Bangkok Universiade on Tuesday when Chu Yafei claimed the men's 20km walk title in one hour 24 minutes 37 seconds.

 

Chinese Jiang Qiuyan clinched the first gold medal of the 24th Universiade last Thursday in women's 20km walk.

 

In today's competition, Chu started with the traditional strategy of following the leading walker, and managed to stay in the leading group till the last lap. Then he outraced his rival Park Chil Sung of South Korea to clinch the gold.

 

Park finished second only five seconds behind Chu, while Japan' s Morioka Koichiro took the bronze medal in 1:25.10.

 

"They are not really high-level competitors," said Chu, referring to his rivals in today's race. "And the time is not my personal best."

 

"However, the title at least makes me more confident in the following races towards to Beijing Olympics," Chu added, after defeating his teammate Zeng Guoqiang, the runner-up of the National Championships.

 

Chu currently is one of China's top five race walkers in the event. Zeng, who is ranking second in China, merely got the ninth place this morning.

 

"He could have achieved better result," said Chu's coach Zhang Jingjun. "But we just take the Universiade as part of the training, since his rivals are not competitive enough."

 

Thanks to the two gold medals claimed in previous Olympiads, the race walk events, together with men's 110 hurdles, have become the major gold hopes for host's athletics team in the coming Beijing Olympics.

 

Chen Yueling from China won the women's 10km walk title at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, and her compatriot Wang Liping was crowned in women's 20km walk at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

 

(Xinhua News Agency August 14, 2007)