The foursome of Li Jianrou, Fan Kexin, Liu Qiuhong and Kong Xue parade the Chinese national flag after winning the women's 3,000-meter relay at the ISU world short-track speedskating championships in Shanghai yesterday.

Host China and South Korea claimed four gold medals apiece at the 2012 ISU world short-track speedskating championships, which concluded in Shanghai yesterday.

In the absence of Olympic champions Wang Meng and Zhou Yang, China had to rely on younger skaters Fan Kexin and Li Jianrou at the worlds, and the duo helped China to four golds and two silvers at the Oriental Sports Center.

Wang, 27, was expelled from the national team last August for punching team manager Wang Chunlu after breaking the team curfew and coming back to the team base drunk.

"The girls are all very good," said head coach Li Yan. "The results are no doubt satisfying. We have experienced a hard season as our training was interrupted by many things, including the National Winter Games last month. But the girls used only four weeks to return to top form."

She considered the women's 3,000-meter relay title the most precious.

Clinch the gold

The foursome of Li, Fan, Liu Qiuhong and Kong Xue beat the United States and South Korea to clinch the gold in four minutes and 16.303 seconds yesterday.

The relay started with China ahead but the US grabbed the lead with only five laps to go.

Kong then surpassed the American skater with a strong spurt to help China win the title. South Korea took the silver in 4:17.223, while the US was third in 4:17.240.

Li, who won the overall individual title earlier, said winning the relay made her happier than claiming individual titles. "I felt excited," she said. "The relay gold was the most important one for our team."

However, in the men's 5,000 relay, China failed to reach the final. Canada clocked the fastest time of 6:42.570, edging the Netherlands by 0.065 seconds. South Korea settled for bronze in 6:42.629.

South Korea was in good form at the event claiming the men's 1,500, 1,000 and all-round titles. Although Cho Ha-ri was not at her best, she still dominated the 1,000 yesterday.

World No. 1 Noh Jink-yu clocked the fastest time in the 1,500 on Friday, while his teammate Kwak Yoon-gy won the 1,000 and the all-round yesterday.