China beats USA to win women's basketball title at Rhine-ruhr Universiade

ESSEN, Germany, July 26 (Xinhua) -- China defeated the United States 81-69 in the women's basketball final on Friday at the FISU World University Games.

China delivered a well-rounded performance, with four players scoring in double digits. Small forward Chen Yujie shot eight of 15 from the field to score 19 points while power forward Tang Ziting buried four 3-pointers out of six attempts to add 16 points.

"We told the players to play as they like and not to have any burden mentally," said Chinese coach Zhao Xuetong.

"We had already achieved what we expected before the Games, so I just told the players to enjoy the final and that they had nothing to lose," added Zhao.

For the United States, power forward Deyona Gaston had a game-high 21 points and point guard Sidney Love notched 15 points.

"China was very good. In the first half we had the upper hand, and I thought we got them out of their defense pretty well," said U.S. coach Krista Lea Gerlich. "In the second half, they increased their pressure on the zone, and they were mixing it up, and it was really confusing to our kids."

China also claimed another gold medal in archery, as Liu Yanxiu and Wang Yan defeated Japan's Waka Sonoda and Yuya Funahashi 6-2 in the recurve mixed team final.

Three gold medals were decided in the track and field. Finland captured its first gold in the meet from the women's 100m hurdles as Saara Keskitalo finished first in 12.88 seconds, followed by Hungary's Anna Toth (12.88), who was just a tiny 0.005s behind. Poland's Alicja Sielska (12.95) came third.

Belgium also secured its first gold in the Games as Elien Vekemans overcame a height of 4.60 meters in women's pole vault. Norway's Kitty Augusta Friele Faye was 10 centimeters lower than the winner and Canada's Rachel Grenke recorded a personal best of 4.35m in third.

Simon Wieland of Switzerland tossed his season best of 79.33 meters to win the men's javeline throw, followed by Germany's Nick Thumm (78.47) and Finland's Topias Yki Eerik Laine (75.96).

Team USA continues to lead the medal table after Day 9 of competition with 28 gold, 22 silver, and 26 bronze medals. China remains second with 23 gold, 21 silver, and 13 bronze and Japan is third with 22 gold, 13 silver, and 20 bronze. ■