Team China gesture during the award ceremony for the women's 4x200m freestyle relay on Aug 4, 2023. (PHOTO / XINHUA)

CHENGDU - Spearheaded by its swimmers and divers, China continued to lead the medal table with a haul of 12 gold medals at the Chengdu Universiade on Friday.

China also swept two synchro diving golds in women's synchronized 3m springboard and mixed synchronized 10m platform

Swimmers from China bagged three golds while Chinese divers had two golds to add to the host's medal tally.

In the women's 1,500m freestyle final, Li Bingjie, the Fukuoka world championships bronze medalist of the event, was in a class of her own as she swam 16 minutes and 18.48 seconds for the title.

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"When I was competing at the 1,500m freestyle, I have saved my strength for the following relay competition," Li told Xinhua.

In the midway of women's 4x200m freestyle relay, China only ranked 3rd, trailing temporarily leader South Africa by 1.72 seconds. Olympic gold medalist Zhang Yufei kept chasing and turned the game around in the third leg. Li helped the host win the event in seven minutes and 58.77 seconds.

"We had normal performance today, I was under a little bit pressure in relay, however, I am satisfied with the result," Li said.

Chinese breaststroke specialist Qin Haiyang won men's 200m breaststroke title in two minutes 8.90 seconds. What's more, he became the event's newly-promoted FISU record holder.

China also swept two synchro diving golds in women's synchronized 3m springboard and mixed synchronized 10m platform.   

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Chen Jia and Yang Ruilin dominated in women's synchronized 3m springboard final and locked the gold with 330.75 points by a large leading margin.

"We have paired several times in the competition. We train, eat, and sleep together every day, naturally leading to a tacit understanding," said Chen.

In the mixed synchronized 10m platform final, Wang Weiying and Wang Binhan compiled 331.26 points to take the gold.

In gymnastics, China's Zhang Boheng won the men's all-around title while his compatriot Ou Yushan claimed the women's all-around title.

"It's so wonderful to win at home, we're glad to give stable performances and had a really enjoyable time today," said Ou.

China also collected golds from athletics, taekwondo, fencing and table tennis.

China now leads the medal table on 61 golds, followed by South Korea on 17 and Japan with 15.