Veteran wushu martial artist Jia Rui won Macao its first Asian Games gold medal in the men's daoshu and gunshu combined on Sunday.
Jia, 23, a silver medalist at the 2006 Doha Asiad, scored 19.61 points to win the title for the broadsword and staff competition under the taolu category.
The sport comprises two basic elements: taolu (set routines), and sanshou boxing (free sparring).
Vietnamese Nguyen Manh Quyen ended his country's medal drought in Guangzhou by snatching the bronze with 19.38 points. Lee Jong-chan from the Republic of Korea took silver by a narrow margin of 0.04 points. Host China had no entrants.
"I feel so fortunate to have won the first gold for Macao. This sets us on a new stage of the sport's development," Jia said. "We also have gold hopes in other events like karate. I hope my win is just a start."
Jia is from Central China's Henan province, home to the world-renowned Shaolin Temple on Songshan Mountain and considered the cradle of Chinese kungfu.
Jia started learning martial arts at the age of 7, and soon proved himself gifted at competitions featuring weapons such as the broadsword and staff. He won numerous national and international events before he was recruited by the Macao Polytechnic Institute in 2004, after which he went on to represent Macao.
Four years ago in Doha, he entered the men's all-round, when the event included the disciplines of changquan (long fist boxing), daoshu (broadsword) and gunshu (staff), but was beaten into second place by Yuan Xiaochao, who seized the first gold of the Guangzhou Games for China on Saturday.
"This time I chose (a new event) because it doubled my chances of success," he said. "It's not easy to participate in two straight Asian Games. I'm competing with myself. I know as long as I work harder than my rivals, I'll make it."
More than 140 athletes are competing for 15 gold medals in the wushu competition. China, which is credited with inventing the martial art, is the favorite in all 10 events it will participate in.
Silver medalist Lee paid tribute to the man from Macao.
"The Asian Games are competitive - all my opponents were competitive, but the toughest one to beat was Jia Rui."
Questions:
1. Who has won Macao’s first Asian Games gold medal?
2. What event was the gold in?
3. Where is Jia from?
Answers:
1. Veteran wushu martial artist Jia Rui.
2. The men's daoshu and gunshu combined.
3. Jia is from Central China's Henan province.
(中国日报网英语点津 Helen 编辑)
About the broadcaster:
Nelly Min is an editor at China Daily with more than 10 years of experience as a newspaper editor and photographer. She has worked at major newspapers in the U.S., including the Los Angeles Times and the Detroit Free Press. She is also fluent in Korean.