By Paul Osborne at the Main Media Centre in Nanjing 

China's weightlifters enjoyed a gloden opening day of the Najing 2014 Youth Olympic Games ©Chinafotopress/Getty ImagesChina have lifted themselves to the top of the pile here in Nanjing with two weightlifting gold medals complimenting a stellar performance in the pool, to place the hosts atop the medals table at the end of the opening day of action at the 2014 Summer Youth Olympic Games.

Jiang Huihua got the ball rolling for the host nation as she dominated the women's 48 kilogram weightlifting competition to secure China's first gold medal of the Games.

The 16-year-old was winner of the first gold medal in last year's Asian Youth Games, also held here, and, despite not taking the first gold of the day, ensured the hosts got off the mark with an immaculate performance inside the International Expo Centre.

The young Chinese athlete lifted heaviest in both the snatch and clean and jerk with 88kg in the former and 105kg in the latter, ensuring her spot ahead of the field.

North Korea's Songgum Ri and Latvia's Rebeka Koha finished a little way behind the winner with combined totals of 165kg apiece.

Due to her lighter body weight, silver was secured by the North Korean, however, with Koha, who weighs just under a kilogram more than her opponent, left to settle for bronze.

Jiang Huihua put in a fine display to win China's first gold medal of Najing 2014 in the women's 48kg weightlifting competition ©Getty ImagesJiang Huihua put in a fine display to win China's first gold medal of Nanjing 2014 in the women's 48kg weightlifting competition ©Getty Images



Cheng Meng sealed the golden double for China in the weightlifting after blowing away the field in the men's 56kg event.

The Chinese powerhouse was untouchable in this contest as he sealed the win with a lift of 128kg on the snatch and a youth world record of 155kg on the clean and jerk.

His total score of 283kg was a whopping 40kg more than his closest competitors, with Vietnam's Tuan Nguyen Tran Anh and Uzbekistan's Adkhamjon Ergashev unable to match him.

It was the Vietnamese who was awarded the silver medal in this circumstance with his lighter body weight giving him the edge over Ergashev, despite the pair lifting 243kg apiece.

In the swimming at the Nanjing Olympic Sports Centre, China's mixed 4x100 metres relay team cemented the nation's position atop the medal table as they came through to take gold in a time of 3 min 27.02sec.

Behind them came the Brazilian quartet who finished in 3:31.55, just whiskers ahead of a fast finishing Australian team in 3:31.76.

Further triumphs in the pool saw Ukraine's Mykhailo Romanchuk take gold in the men's 400m freestyle in a time of 3:49.76.

This event brought a first ever medal, from any form of the Olympics, for El Salvador, as Marcelo Alberto Acosta put in a fine performance to seal silver and inscribe his name in the history books.

Sabrina Massialas looks to be following in the family tradition as she took gold in the women's individual foil competition ©Getty ImagesSabrina Massialas looks to be following in the family tradition as she took gold in the women's individual foil competition ©Getty Images



There was an emotional win for the United States' Sabrina Massialas in the women's individual foil event of the fencing.

The two-time Cadet World Championship silver medallist finally made it all the way here as she beat Japan's Karin Miyawaki in an enthralling final.

The American is daughter to two-time Olympian Greg Massialas, who competed for the US at the 1984 and 1988 Olympic Games.

Her brother, Alexander Massialas, is also a key figurehead in the US fencing squad having won silver at the inaugural Youth Olympic Games four years ago in Singapore before going on to represent his nation at London 2012.

Australia's Brittany Dutton kick-started the day with a convincing win in the women's triathlon, with the day's final medal landing around the neck of Iran's Mahdi Eshaghi in the men's under 48kg taekwondo competition.

Thailand's Panipak Wongpattanankit was first to register gold in the women's taekwondo contest as she powered to victory in the under 44kg event.

There were three gold medals for three separate nations in the opening day of the judo, with Japan's Hifumi Abe taking the win in the men's under 66kg contest, Bauyrzhan Zhauyntayev of Kazakhstan securing top honours in the men's under 51kg category and Melisa Cakmakli of Turkey sealing victory in the women's under 44kg division.

Other competitions saw Agata Nowak of Poland win gold in the 10m air pistol shooting, Russia's Ivan Ilin win the men's individual sabre and Vien Nguyen Thi Anh secure Vietnam's first gold in the women's 200m individual medley.

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