TWO MEDALS TO AUSTRALIAN LIFESAVERS AS ITALY AND CHINA BATTLE IT OUT IN THE POOL

Kaohsiung, Chinese Taipei, July4; It was a night that set the scene for the next phase of an intriguing battle in Lifesaving pool sports, as traditional powerhouse Italy struck back against the rising dragon China at the Kaohsiung International Aquatic Centre on Friday evening.

Italy blitzed the field, finishing in the top three places in seven events and now lead China in the combined pointscore by 51 points, 404 to 353.

China continued its surprising rise, also finishing in the top three in seven events and breaking the only world record of the evening in the 4x50 rescue medley.

All eyes are now on whether the Australians and arch-rivals New Zealand can make up the difference in their traditional domain of ocean lifesaving, as events move to Sizihwan Bay Beach in Kaohsiung tomorrow (Saturday).

 The highlight of the night for the Australian team was two medals in the 100m rescue medleys - silver to Sarah Windsor (1:17.41) and bronze to Andrew Bowden in a personal best time of 1:04.29.

Windsor was delighted she had been able to overcome a serious chest infection which was causing her to be physically sick as recently as last Sunday.

"I'm still not really 100% and I am so happy to put some more points on the board for the team,   however it is also really great to win an individual medal at my second World Games," she said.

"I was also really pleased to be able to split the Chinese girls, who came first and third, as it seemed that China was on a real roll at these Games."

Bowden said it was ‘awesome' to win bronze and that he felt all the hard work over the last six months had paid off.

"I pride myself on my consistency and am very happy to have qualified for three A finals - I had to conserve my energy in the heats this morning so that time was a little slow," he said.

Australian team coach Danny Short said it was another strong performance in the pool, however the focus was now on pulling back the lead of the Italians and Chinese in the overall pointscore.

The International Life Saving Federation (ILS) acknowledges the team with the highest combined pointscore as the winner of the World Games, however the International World Games Association (IWGA) awards medals to the male and female teams with the highest score.

"I'd like to think we will be able to do it but it will mean that we will probably have to take out the first three places in each of the ten events, and I'm sure the Kiwis and South Africans will have something to say about that," he said.

Ocean events begin tomorrow (Saturday) at 10:00h local time (12:00h AEST) and conclude at 17:45h (19:45h AEST), with thunderstorms expected with small swell.

Naomi Flood, Kristyl Smith and Sarah Windsor lead off in the surf race at 10:00h local time (12:00h AEST).

Chris Allum, Hugh Dougherty and Shannon Eckstein are in the male surf race at 10:15h (12:15AEST). 

Flood, Smith and new cap Terri Sullivan follow in the heats of the board race at 10:30h (12:30h AEST) with Allum, Dougherty and Eckstein in the male heats which commence at 11:00h (13:00h AEST).

Flood, Smith and Sullivan will lead the Australian charge in the Ironwoman from 11:30h (13:30h AEST) with Allum, Dougherty and Eckstein hoping to dominate the Ironman heats from 12:10h (14:10h AEST).

Finals in the board race and rescue tube rescue are from 16:00h (18:00h AEST) with Iron finals from 17:30h (19:30h AEST).

For live results see http://results.worldgames2009.tw/en/Root.mvc

LIFESAVING

World Games, Kaohsiung, Chinese Taipei (Taiwan), Day 2 - Friday 24 July: Male: 100m manikin carry with fins S Procaccia  (ITA) 0:48.74 J Zhang (CHN) 0:49.52  N Ferrua (ITA) 0:49.80 C Guo (CHN) 0:51.09 K Schirmer (GER) 0:52.17 M Parkes (AUS) 0:52.38 100m rescue medley F Pinotti (ITA) 1:01.29 G Legnani (ITA) 1:03.82 A Bowden (AUS) 1:04.29 Y Zang (CHN) 1:04.38 S Kent (NZL) 1:04.53 G Proietti (ITA) 1:04.73 4x50 medley relay CHN1:29.97 ITA 1:30.47 NZL 1:32.79 GER 1:33.57 FRA 1:33.59 AUS 1:33.71                     

Female: 100m manikin carry with fins J Song (CHN) 0:56.97 J Huang (CHN) 0:58.29 M Prandi (ITA) 0:58.31 A Hundt (GER) 0:58.32 M Mozzanica (ITA) 0:58.67 K Altmann (GER) 1:01.16 100m rescue medley Y Gao (CHN) 1:16.57            S Windsor (AUS) 1:17.41 Q He (CHN) 1:17.61 C Pidello (ITA) 1:18.66 A Dunlop-Barrett (NZL) 1:19.40 S Lee (NZL) 1:20.69 4x50 medley relay CHN 1:41.03 (WR) GER 1:42.56 ITA 1:42.75 AUS 1:45.19 FRA 1:47.27 TPE 1:50.72                   

Pointscore after Day 2

ITA 404 CHN 353 AUS 267.5 GER 262 NZL 200.5 FRA 148 RSA 132 TPE 90