China powered ahead in the medals ­table at the East Asian Games on Wednesday, dominating the martial arts events as they reached their climax.

Wednesday's haul in North China's Tianjin included six of the gold medals to be contested in the sanshou events - in which gloved fighters confront each other in physical combat.

Among the victorious Chinese ­fighters at the 10-day regional contest were Xiao Chun, who won the 52-kilogram event, and Li Kang, who claimed gold in the 56-kilogram category.

South Korea's Ham Gwan-sik took gold in the 65-kilogram event, while Hong Kong's Li Sone-wai won the 60-­kilogram contest.

Chinese women fighters Feng Yufang (48-kilogram) and Qiu Tiao (52-­kilogram) also took gold in their categories.

China also took six gold medals in the taolu events, in which athletes do not engage in fights but are assessed on their techniques.

Liang Yongda took the gold for men's nanquan and nangun, where fighters are assessed on their techniques in a type of boxing which translates into English as "Southern Fist," and also their combat techniques using a stick-like weapon.

Chinese women's pair Zhao Longlong and Xin He also claimed gold in their noncombative event.

But not everything went perfectly for the hosts, with their men's three-meter ­synchronized diving team leading as they went into the final round but ­failing with their last dive, scoring zero and finishing third behind Japan and South Korea.

By the end of competition on Wednesday, China had a total 67 gold medals overall, ahead of South Korea on 17 and Japan on 13.

This year's competition features more than 2,400 athletes from China, Japan, South Korea, North Korea, Mongolia, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, Macao and Guam, competing in 24 different sports.

It is the last time the East Asian Games will be held in their current form, the Xinhua News Agency reported, with the event due to be transformed into a youth games for athletes aged 14 to 18.

AFP - Global Times