Russia off to flying start at World University Games

Kazan: Hosts Russia enjoyed a flying start on the first competition day at the 27th Summer Universiade, winning six gold, two silver and eight bronze medals here.

Yet it was Australian diver Samantha Mills who turned out to be the first gold medallist of Kazan Universiade as she edged her Chinese opponents for the title of women`s 1-metre springboard on Sunday. Jia Dongjin finished second while her Chinese teammate Wang Liting settled for the bronze due to a blunder in her fourth dive, Xinhua reports. Then the Universiade became the stage for the Russian athletes who won three gold medals from belt wrestling, one each from diving, athletics and gymnastics. Belt wrestling is introduced into Universiade for the first time. South Korea surprisingly took the second place on medal table with three gold and a bronze. South Korea`s gold medals were from judo, women`s individual epee and badminton`s mixed team event. In both the women`s individual epee and badminton`s mixed team events, South Koreans claimed the titles at the expense of their Chinese opponents. China finished the day with two golds,both from weightlifting. Defending Universiade champion Xiao Hongyu proved she was still too strong for the other weightlifters as she took the gold of women`s 48kg category with a total of 187kg. Xu Jingui added the second gold for China as he set a new clean and jerk Universiade record before winning the title at 264kg. China also won four silver and two bronze medals to be third on the table. China sent a total of 280 athletes, mostly amateurs, to Kazan Universiade. They will compete in 21 out of 27 sports. It will be hard for China to repeat the glory four years ago in Shenzhen when China took 75 gold for the top spot. The 27th Summer Universiade runs from July 6 to 17 with a record entry of more than 13,000 athletes, coaches and officials from 162 countries and regions. IANS