China alone on top

China established a huge lead at the top of the Paralympics medals table Monday evening, racing to 80 golds -- almost double the haul of its nearest rival on the last night of swimming in Beijing.
Vying with Britain for top spot earlier in these Games, the host nation now has 187 medals in total compared with Britain's 41 golds and 96 medals.
As well as dominating the athletics events with a remarkable 34 golds, China's haul includes 13 swimming golds, 10 in table tennis and eight in powerlifting.
On the final night of action in the Water Cube, Australia's Matthew Cowdrey won his fifth gold, to match South Africa's Olympian Natalie du Toit.
He helped his team to a first-place finish in the men's 4x100m medley relay to go with his earlier golds in the 100m freestyle, 200m individual medley, 100m backstroke and 50m freestyle.
"That's definitely the one race we really wanted. From the other night we knew the Chinese team would be really fast," Cowdrey said.
"On a personal note, to come away with five gold (medals) is simply amazing."
China also took triple gold in wheelchair fencing to take their total of fencing golds to five, with Zhang Chuncui shocking Hong Kong's world champion Yu Chui Yee, and Tian Jianquan and Hu Daoliang also winning.
During the morning, Canadian wheelchair racer Chantal Petitclerc -- also chasing a fifth gold in these Games -- qualified for the 1,500 metres final in her class as she bids to add to her 100m, 200m and 400m and 800m titles.
South Africa's Du Toit, who finished 16th in the Olympic 10 kilometre marathon swim last month, pledged earlier Monday to aim for more Olympic and Paralympic glory.
"Having the dream just to get to the Olympic Games and having that one accomplished, I think 2012 is definitely on the cards to do better and better," she said.
Du Toit, who also won five Paralympic golds and a silver in Athens, is aiming to qualify for the 800m freestyle in the pool at the London Olympics as well as the 10km, where she is hoping for a top 10 or top five placing.
She also vowed to go for seven golds at the London Paralympics, adding the 100m backstroke and 100m breaststroke to her programme.
The South African amputee is one of only two athletes to compete at both Beijing Games, along with Polish teenager Natalia Partyka.
Partyka won table tennis gold in her class last week but failed to inspire Poland to victory in the gold medal match of the team competition.
China's celebration of disabled sport involving more than 4,000 competitors has been clouded by controversies over drugs and classification problems.
On Sunday Britain's Rebecca Chin was stripped of second place over a classifying issue in the women's discus.
It followed the banning of Irish athlete Derek Malone from the Paralympics because authorities had deemed him not disabled enough.
Meanwhile, the Paralympics have not been free of the scourge of drugs, with four athletes, including three powerlifters, kicked out for doping offences.
A total of 888 doping tests had been carried out both in and out of competition by the end of Sunday.
At the Athens Games, 680 doping tests were conducted, resulting in 10 violations.
And on Saturday the Iranian wheelchair basketball team forfeited their quarter-final clash with the United States, saying they were unhappy with the draw and schedule for the later rounds.