Sun Yang sweeps 6 golds, 1 silver at Chinese National Games

Sun Yang of Zhejiang shows all his medals after the awarding ceremony of men's 4x100m medley relay final at 13th Chinese National Games in North China's Tianjin municipality, Sept 7, 2017. Sun Yang won six gold medals and one silver medal at 13th Chinese National Games. [Photo/Xinhua]

TIANJIN - Olympic champion Sun Yang grabbed his last two titles in the men's 1,500m freestyle and 4x100m medley relay for a total of 6 golds and 1 silver medal from the 13th Chinese National Games which concluded the swimming competition on Thursday.

Sun enjoyed a comfortable victory in the 1,500m freestyle in 15 minutes and 05.18 seconds and later anchored the 4X100m medley relay in the freestyle leg in 48.48.

"I was satisfied since I have competed in all eight days of swimming competition and did my best while I got cold these days.

"It was a big challenge since I just came back from the World Championships for one month," said Sun, who also claimed titles of the 200, 400, 800, 4X200m freestyle relay, as well as a silver from 4X100m freestyle relay.

"I did some good results in the 200m and 400m, and improved my personal best in the 100m during the relays. It boosted my confidence that I could swim faster in the 100m event," said the captain of the Chinese national swimming team.

"The number of golds does not mean anything, but a part of my glory. The most important is to realize my value in swimming," Sun said.

Liu Xiang, who broke the Asian record twice in the women's 50m freestyle on Wednesday, overcame a start mistake and stormed for the gold medal in 24.07. Zhu Menghui of Zhejiang came to second in 24.81 and butterfly champion Zhang Yufei third in 24.89.

"I placed fourth in the same event four years ago and I thought about retirement. I felt lucky that I did not give up and showed my best this time in Tianjin. And I look for better results in the future," said the 21-year-old.

During the 8-day swimming competition, the trio of 15-year-old Li Bingjie, Xu Jiayu and Li Zhuhao tied for the second place of the multiple medalists with four golds each.

Li Bingjie shattered the Asian records in the women's 400m in 4:01.75 and 1,500m freestyle in 15:52.87 and also won 800m together with a relay victory. World champion Xu Jiayu dominated two men's backstroke events and relays, and Li Zhuhao ruled the men's butterfly and relays.

The 18-year-old Qin Haiyang from Chinese Army improved the national record in the men's 200m breaststroke in 2:07.35.

A total of 621 swimmers competed in the quadrennial Games.