in the dying moment sank them in the semifinals of the Universiade here on Thursday.

Yao Ming, a 2.25-meter center (中锋)pulled off the magic bullet, slamming one-handedly American Lonny Baxter's hoop ((蓝球的)篮, 篮圈)jumper away with 0.2 seconds left to lift China to a 83-82 win and a final berth. China will face in the championships game Yugoslavia, who beat Germany 78-77 for the final berth. 

Yao, who is dubbed as (授予称号)the "Walking Great Wall" with another two centers Wang Zhizhi and Menk Batere, amassed 12 points, nine rebounds (篮板球, 反弹球) and five blocks in the hard-fought win. Wang Zhizhi, the first Asian to join the NBA, chipped in 16 points and 11 rebounds. 

This loss snapped the record 46-game winning streak of the United States, who collected 12 titles, including six straight gold medals, in the biannual games. 
"We're well prepared for the game and determined to win the match," said Chinese head coach Wang Fei. "We tried hard to rely on the inside on offence and gave pressure on American's outside shooters on defence." 

"China has some extremely big guys and they did a good job to execute their inside game," said American head coach Jerry Dunn. " I'm disappointed at losing the game. The U.S. always expects to win the title." 

But the United States still has a chance to revenge as the US women hoopers crushed Lithuania (立陶宛)70:49 to set up a final with the Chinese team on Friday. 

Although the U.S. team defeated China in the quarterfinals, American coach Debbie Ryan played down the final clash. "It's an excellent team, the players are very talented.? said the coach. 

The Chinese women's side made the final after overwhelming one of its strongest opponents Czech 95-75 in the semifinals. 

"I'm satisfied with the result," said Chinese coach Chen Detun. "Our players fought hard throughout the game, fully aware of its importance." 

As for the prospects of the finals, Chen revealed nothing but that they had worked out a strategy against the United States. 

But the U.S., which brought home the most medals and golds in the last Unviersiade in 1999, seemed to have no chance to overtake the host on the medal table. 

Leading all the way in the medal table since the opening of the biannual games, China collected 51 golds and 95 medals, followed by America with 17 golds and 40 medals. Russia, Japan and Urkaine are placed in the next three slots. 

China's gold spree (狂欢,疯狂)partly comes from the track and field where the host continued their winning momentum to collect its sixth gold from athletics with Li Qiumei's victory in women's discus throw. 

She unleashed (释放)an effort of 61.66 meters, her second best throw of the year, to take the honor, her first title in an international event. 

"I was so excited to do a victory lap. It is a great honor for me," said Li Qiumei, a senior student in the Chinese Language Department of Shanxi Normal University. "It is my first gold medal of world-level. 

That consolidated China's top place on the athletics medal tally with six golds, three silvers and three bronzes, ahead of powerhouse the United States which holds five golds and two bronzes. 

In the other disciplines of the athletics, world champion Yipsi Moreno of Cuba was the biggest victim of upset as she lost the women's hammer gold to French Manuela Montebrun who managed a winning throw of 69.78 meters. 

Israeli Alexander Averbukh also caught a lot of spotlight today as he equaled the Games record of 5.80 meters to win the men's pole vault gold, the first gold of the Israeli delegation at the University Games. 

Spain grabbed the last athletics gold of the day as Manuel Martinez, who was fourth in the Edmonton World Athletics Championships, triumphed in the men's shot put with his first throw at 20.97 meters. 

In tennis, China made a great breakthrough at the Universiade by bagging three out of the five golds for grab. 

Li Na, seeded number two, upset the defending champion Janet Lee, the No.1 seeded player from Chinese Taipei 4-6, 6-3 and 6-2 to take the title of the women's singles tennis finals. 

This is China's 6th gold in the women's singles tennis in the history of the Universiade, and I feel very excited,"said Li Na. 

On the men's side, Lee Seung-Hun, the No.3 seeded player from the Republic of Korea (ROK) harvested the men's singles tennis title, powering past the sixth-seeded Russian player Philippe Moukhometov 6-4, 6-2 in the finals. 

China's No.6 seeded pair Zhu Benqiang and Li Na had an 6-3, 6-1 win over the German pair Jan Boruszewski and Claudia Bensch for the mixed doubles tennis title 

In volleyball, inspired by a partisan crowd of some 14,500 spectators, the Chinese women's volleyballers beat Russia 3-1 to successfully defend the title. 

The United States took their first ever men's volleyball title here Thursday when they came from one set down to defeat France 3-1 at the 21st World University Games.The set scores are 26-28, 25-19, 25-18 and 25-21. 

In fencing, Russia beat China 45:38 to win the gold in the women's sabre team competition while Russian men's epee team beat Italy 45: 37 to win the title of the men's epee team. 

"Russia is always very strong, "said Romania's Mihai Claubiu Covaliu, men's sabre world No.1 and champion of the 2000 Olympics. There are many excellent fencing training schools in Moscow."

In rhythmic gymnastics, Yerofeyeva Tamara, rhythmic gymnast from Ukraine, won the gold medal of the individual all-round. 

China won two team titles of rhythmic gymnastics in both 3 Rope-2 Balls and 5 Clubs tonight."This was unexpected to us," said Mo Xiaohua, a gymnast of the Chinese team.

(www.u21.org.cn)