THE first day of the inaugural leg of the International Swimming Federation (FINA) Champions Swim Series provided thrilling battles in the pool as Chinese star Sun Yang went on to win a silver medal after making his first appearance of the year in the men’s 200m freestyle in Shenzhen on Tuesday night.

Reigning Olympic and world champion Sun was in lane three with Lithuania’s Danas Rapsys in lane two at the Shenzhen Universiade Sports Center.

Sun got off to a decent start, but found himself in third place when they rose to the surface. However, the Chinese powered ahead and by the time they made the second turn at 100 meters, he was at the front of the four.

But Rapsys refused to fade and the final 50 meters turned into a breath-taking battle between the two and it was Rapsys who touched the wall first in a time of one minute, 46.50 seconds. The home favorite claimed the silver medal in his first race of the year after being edged by 0.03 seconds.

With the support from the full-house local audience, Chinese swimmers snatched five gold medals.

Xu Jiayu, two-time world champion in men’s 100m backstroke, proved his reputation by winning in 53.01 seconds while Wang Shun enjoyed an one-man show in the men’s 200m individual medley with a winning mark of 1:57.76.

In the women’s 200m backstroke, Liu Yaxin touched home first in 2:10.34, beating Hungarian Iron Lady Katinka Hosszu to second place.

Yu Jingyao and Olympic champion Ye Shiwen finished one-two in women’s 200m breaststroke at 2:24.64 and 2:26.03, respectively. World record holder Liu Xiang won the fifth gold medal for China in the women’s 50m backstroke in 27.36 seconds.

“I am happy with my result and also happy for my teammate Yu Jingyao. She is a breaststroker and has improved steadily recently. I hope both of us can go to the Olympic Games,” Ye Shiwen said.

Tamas Kenderesi dominated the women’s 200m butterfly while her Hungarian teammate Ajna Kesely won in the 400m freestyle.

Italy’s Elena di Liddo upset Denmark’s veteran Jeanette Ottesen to take victory in women’s 100m butterfly and her teammate Martina Carraro lifted the title in the 50m breaststroke.

Vladimir Morozov, winner of the 2019 FINA Swimming World Cup, gave Russia their sole gold Tuesday as he won the men’s 50m free in 21.70.

(SD-Xinhua)