WUHAN, Oct. 21 (Xinhua) -- Germany won its long-awaited first gold from cycling at the Military World Games on the third matchday here on Monday before adding another three to reach the top three on medal standings after China and Russia.
Norway, Italy, DPR Korea, Latvia and Morocco also saw their athletes step on top of the podium for the first time.
Patrick Haller emerged out of 102 riders to win the men's individual road race and contributed to Germany's silver in team event, in which Latvian cyclists clinched the first gold for their country.
"We only wanted to show our best, but in the final stage we got three guys in the front. I am happy about that and I am happy about my performance," said Andris Vosekalns of Latvia, who took a silver in the individual race.
More good news came for Germany as Richard Huebers edged Konstantin Lokhanov of Russia 15-13 for men's individual sabre win. World record-holder Jan Malkowski and Jule Elisabeth Strotkoetter added two more golds through men's and women's 100m manikin carry with fins respectively.
"I am absolutely happy. It's incredible and I cannot believe it. It is the highlight," Strotkoetter said in excitement.
Norway was victorious in shooting, winning 300m standard rifle three-position team event while Jeanette Hegg Duestad and Katrine Aannestad recorded a one-two finish in women's individual 50m rifle prone.
"It's very important for us to focus on the team events. When you have a good team, you have good individual athletes as well. We have to build the team, we have to have fun together, we have to stay together, train together and so much more. That's what makes them better individual shooters," Norway coach Stale Larsen said afterwards.
Morocco bagged first gold coming from behind to win parachuting women's formation skydive with 192 points. Emanuele Massimiliano Bianchi became the first Italian to step on top of the podium in equestrian jumping individual, which features both men's and women's riders. Pak Un Gwang of DPR Korea triumphed in men's 57kg freestyle wrestling.
Despite the countries that achieved breakthroughs, China further consolidated its leading position on the medal tally with 15 golds from Monday's matches.
Five tournament records were broken as the Chinese swimmers continued gold sweep, adding seven more out of nine events. Yang Junxuan, wrapping up five gold medals, became the most fruitful swimmer.
"I felt excited to swim here and fight together with my teammates. I want to test my limits and take more challenges," said Yang, who has won the 100m, 200m freestyles and three relays so far.
Shooting also saw a commanding performance by the host, winning four out of the seven golds on offer.
World No. 2 table tennis player Fan Zhendong registered two victories to lead China to men's team glory after beating the DPR Korea 3-1 in the final. This is the first time table tennis is included at the military games.
Fan and teammate Zhou Yu both shook off a slow start to defeat their opponents 3-1. Being 2-0 down in the overall scoresheet, the DPR Korea pulled on back as Ro Hyon Song edged Zhou Kai 12-10, 9-11, 11-9, 7-11, 11-4, but Fan did not give An Ji Song the chance to drag the match into a decider, clinching the victory for China in straight games.
As the third matchday concluded, China led the 109 participating nations with 41 golds. Russia was second with 18 and Germany was third with four.
