The late Chinese leader Mao Zedong had envisioned a China in which women would hold up half the sky. Well, in sports, Chinese women have superseded this vision.

China garnered 17 gold medals on the penultimate day of the Asian Games yesterday, raising its total to 164, sweeping past the Busan target of 150. Among the Chinese gold tally, 93 came from women and 71 from men.

Chinese men have long been overshadowed by women in the Asian Games and Olympics. Among a total of 112 Olympic golds won by China, women have won 66 against men's 44, the largest margin coming at the 2004 Athens Games, in which Chinese women swept 20.5 golds opposed to men's 11.5.

This is a reverse trend among China's closest rivals. South Korea's men lead over women 38-20 in its gold count in Doha with the Japanese men having a 31-19 advantage.

"China attaches the same importance to the men's and women's sports, while many other countries and regions are tilted to men's sports," said Cui Dalin, a deputy chef-de-mission of the Chinese Asian Games delegation.

"Diligence of Chinese women is another reason for their sporting success," he added.

Women rider Li Yan started China's gold haul of the day, winning the points race to give the country its fourth track cycling gold of the Games.

Li edged out individual pursuit champion Lee Min-hye of South Korea by a single point over the 100-lap, 10-sprint race.

South Korea made up for the loss by bagging the men's Madison and Keirin titles, although it still trailed China three to four in the cycling gold table.

Fresh from her victory in the women's tennis singles, Chinese star Zheng Jie paired with Yan Zi to beat Chinese Taipei's Chan Yung-jan and Chuang Chia-jung 6-1, 7-6 for the women's doubles crown.

The Games' last tennis gold went to Thailand's Danai Udomchoke, who beat South Korean Lee Hyung-taik 7-5, 6-3 in the men's singles final.

Chinese women's hoopsters lived up to their billing as Asia's No.1 team, obliterating Chinese Taipei 90-59 in the final.

Chinese wushu masters, holding up their tradition, swept eight titles and missed only one -- the men's 52kg division sanshou, won by Sornito Rene Catalan from the Philippines.

In canoe/kayak, China paddled away with three golds in the men's K1 500m (Liu Haitao), the men's C1 500m (Yang Wenjun) and the women's K2 500m (Zhu Mingyuan/Yu Lamei).

Central Asia showed its skill at the sport as Kazakhstan claimed two golds in the men's K2 500m and C2 500m and Uzbekistan took one from the women's K1 500m.

Chinese divers completed a 10-gold clean sweep after Lin Yue and Wang Xin won the men's and women's 10m platform respectively yesterday.

China claimed its first Asian Games water polo gold since 1990 as it edged out Japan 9-8 after trailing through most of the final.

While Japan failed in its bid to win the water polo for the first time in 36 years, its women's softball team trounced Chinese Taipei 7-0 in the final.

Japan, which lagged behind South Korea 49 to 51 in Wednesday's gold standings, saw its gap enlarged after its arch rival scooped seven golds for the day to lead 58-50.

South Korea, which has placed second behind China four times in the past five Games, has secured its runner-up position with only two golds up for grabs on the last day of the Games.

South Korea walked away with two fencing titles, nipping the Chinese in both the men's epee and women's foil team events.

Baek Jin-kuk won South Korea's fifth wrestling title as he snatched a 66kg class freestyle win over Japanese Takafumi Kojima.

Uzbekistan's wrestlers took home two golds with Iran sneaking one in.

As China ran away on the medal table, South Korea dealt two heavy blows to the Asian sporting superpower.

After beating China 3-1 to win the men's hockey, South Korea disposed of the Chinese men's volleyball team 25-18, 22-25, 25-18,25-16 last night.

The triumphant South Korean team will reportedly pick up a US$100,000 check from their federation as a reward.

The United Arab Emirates swept the individual and team golds in the equestrian endurance.

Qatar's overspending in the Asian Games was not rewarded with a gold rush. Six golds won by Qatar so far do not match up with the US$2.8 billion price tag hung on the largest and most expensive Asian Games ever.

Kuwait denied Qatar a men's handball gold, winning the final 27-24.

The hosts will crack last shots at gold in today's men's basketball and soccer finals, where they will face China and Iran respectively.

(Xinhua News Agency December 15, 2006)