HOST China stood on top of the medal tally with 12 golds out of 22 on offer after the first matchday of the 7th Military World Games in Wuhan, capital of Central China’s Hubei Province, on Saturday.

Russia trailed with four gold medals while France and Uzbekistan had two apiece.

Jin Yongde, Xie Zhenxiang and Yao Zhaonan helped China clinch the tournament’s first gold in the 25m military rapid fire pistol men’s team event, scoring a total of 1,747 points for the championship. Russia took the sliver with 1,743 points and the Democratic People’s Republic of  Korea settled for third place with 1,742 points.

Liao Weihua came first with 3,500 points in the flying contest of aeronautical pentathlon.

China reaped heavily in the swimming pool, collecting a total of six golds, with Wang Jianjiahe triumphing in the women’s 400m freestyle with an event-record time of four minutes 4.42 seconds. Wuhan native Zhang Yuhan finished second in front of a buzzing home crowd followed by Anna Egorova of Russia.

“I am so excited and my family were also present today,” Zhang said. “The Games record was set by me four years ago in Mungyeong, South Korea. Today my teammate Wang and I both got into the final and I feel happy that she broke my record.”

Zhu Menghui also set the women’s 50m freestyle record finishing in 24.81. Li Guangyuan (54.50) and Liu Yaxin (2:09.92) won the men’s 100m and women’s 200m backstroke, respectively, before China secured the victory in the women’s 4X100m medley relay in 4:00.16 and the men’s 4X200m freestyle relay with a time of 7:13.35.

Russia’s Vladislav Grinev triumphed in the men’s 50m freestyle in 22.33 while compatriot Anton Chupkov edged home favorite Yan Zibei in the last 25m to touch home first and refreshed the record by 59.17 in the men’s 100m breaststroke.

“Yan Zibei is a legend in China. He had a bronze medal at the Gwangju 2019 World Championships. It is very interesting to swim with him,” Grinev said.

In the men’s individual foil, Timur Safin of Russia ousted reigning world champion Enzo Lefort of France 15-14 in a semifinal and stepped on top of the podium after beating another Frenchman Maxime Pauty 15-9 in the final.

“It is always nice to win, especially at this kind of competition,” said the Rio 2016 bronze medalist.

Sun Yiwen added another gold for China in the women’s individual epee, edging Ana Popescu of Romania 11-10.(Xinhua)