Russia win record gold medals at Kazan Universiade

KAZAN, Russia - With four more matchdays remaining, host Russia has already set a new record of winning most gold medals at a single Universiade.

After the conclusion of 40 finals contested on Friday, Russia has totaled 88 gold medals to break the previous Universiade record of 75 set by China two years ago in Shenzhen, China.

Unlike most of the countries which sent university athletes to Universiade, Russia fielded a strong delegation at Kazan Universiade. The Russian delegation includes 25 Olympic champions, 50 Olympic medalists and more than one hundred world class athletes.

China overtook South Korea to place third on medal table with 13 gold, 17 silver and 11 bronze medals. Japan ranks second with seven more bronze medals than China.

On Friday China won three more gold medal from diving and Chinese paddlers added one to the tally after beating Japan 3-0 in the men's table tennis team event final.

The Chinese men's soccer team, which failed to qualify from the group with two draws and one defeat, finally scored their first victory at Kazan as they came from one goal down to beat Brazil 4-1.

The Chinese team, consists of pure university athletes, played to a 0-0, 2-2 draws with Mexico and Ireland before losing to host Russia 2-0.

The shooting tournament opened with six gold medals on offer on Friday. Chinese sharpshooters, led by Olympic bronze medalist Yu Dan and World Cup title holder Li Peijing, failed to win a single title due to minor errors in the competitions.

"I didn't make any big mistakes in the race, but my first two shots were not good. It was hard to catch up when you have such a poor start," said Yu Dan.

"Our opponents were not that strong. We lost to ourselves," said Gao Jing, coach of the Chinese shooting team.

Half of Friday's six shooting gold were taken by Russia while Germany, Italy and Australia each won a gold. China finished the day with one silver and four bronze medals.

Saturday will feature 17 finals in shooting, swimming, table tennis, beach volleyball and wrestling.