Securing the top spot in the medals table despite fielding a weakened team, China saw themselves warming up for next year’s Olympics in Beijing. And this they managed to do while keeping many of their best athletes away from the event. Still the depth of talent possessed by them was evident as the team scooped medals across 11 sports ranging from athletics to volleyball.Many countries used the Games to boost their competition experience ahead of the 2008 Olympics, with the United States sending a strong team of swimmers who dominated in the pool to collect 10 golds.
Chad La Tourette, Adam Ritter and Patrick Mellors emerged as future stars, while four-time Olympic gold-medalist Kaitlin Sandeno relished her return to top-level racing. She may shine again next summer.
The athletics programme was less competitive without a single US entry, but British sprinter Simeon Williamson showed international potential by winning the 100-metres final in 10.22 seconds in wet conditions.
Among China’s 32 gold medals was a sprinkling of their top performers.
After their walking victories, Chua Yafei and Jiang Qiuyan are on course for Beijing, while the nation’s strong diving record looks likely to be maintained by Zhang Xinhua, Peng Bo and Li Ting, who all won springboard golds.Ukraine earned third-place in the medals table through their success in gymnastics, fencing, shooting, swimming and on the track.
Their team’s star was Olympic bronze-medalist Anna Bessonova, who gained five individual golds in rhythmic gymnastics.
The University Games, which involved 8,000 student athletes competing in 17 sports, sparked little interest in Thailand. Most of the venues were empty and Saturday’s extravagant closing ceremony was sparsely attended, despite ticket prices being slashed by half.
But the host nation had plenty of medal success as well-laid plans for victories in tennis, badminton and the men’s 4x100-metres relay, all came good with further golds landed in golf, Tae-Kwondo and shooting.
The overall medals table read China on 32 golds, Russia and Ukraine equal on 28 but Russia coming second because they had more silvers.
The University Games concluded with Lithiania beating Serbia in the basketball final and Turkey beating Canada in volleyball.
The next ‘Universiade’, as the Games are also known, will be held in Belgrade in 2009.
—Agencies
Final medal standings
(Tabulated under gold, silver, bronze, total)
China 32 29 26 87
Russia 28 27 37 92
Ukraine 28 20 18 66
Japan 19 15 22 56
South Korea 15 18 18 51
Thailand 13 7 9 29
Germany 11 5 9 25
United States 10 10 14 34
Taiwan 7 9 12 28
Italy 6 6 9 21
Kazakhstan 5 4 5 14
Canada 5 3 8 16
Iran 4 1 4 9
Australia 3 5 3 11
Belarus 3 4 6 13
Mexico 3 3 5 11
Turkey 3 3 4 10
Austria 3 2 3 8
Poland 2 5 9 16
Hungary 2 3 1 6
North Korea 2 1 4 7
Czech Republic 2 1 2 5
Morocco 2 1 0 3
Lithuania 2 0 3 5
Switzerland 2 0 2 4
Finland 2 0 0 2
France 1 6 7 14
Britain 1 4 5 10
Brazil 1 3 6 10
Romania 1 2 2 5
Slovakia 1 2 2 5
South Africa 1 2 1 4
Cyprus 1 2 0 3
Ireland 1 2 0 3
Latvia 1 1 1 3
Slovenia 1 1 1 3
Egypt 1 1 0 2
Mongolia 1 1 0 2
Portugal 1 1 0 2
Algeria 1 0 1 2
Cuba 1 0 1 2
Georgia 1 0 1 2
India 1 0 1 2
Uzbekistan 1 0 1 2
Azerbaijan 1 0 0 1
Bulgaria 1 0 0 1
Montenegro 1 0 0 1