BEIJING, May 17 (Xinhua) -- Here are the latest Chinese sports headlines from the past week:

1. Chinese men's 4x400m team breaks national record at 2025 World Athletics Relays

Team China set a new national record in the men's 4x400m in 3 minutes and 1.87 seconds at the 2025 World Athletics Relays here on May 10 in rain.

The competition serves as a main qualification for relay events at the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, features 6 events including men's, women's and mixed 4x100m and 4x400m. The top 14 teams in each event (except for mixed 4x100m) will earn berths for Tokyo 2025.

The Chinese squad for the men's 4x400m, composed of rookies Liang Baotang, Li Yiqing, Zhang Qining and Fu Haoran, finished second in Heat 1, breaking the national record, reaching the final and qualifying for Tokyo 2025.

2. China's archery team starts Olympic cycle strong with silver medals in Shanghai World Cup

China's national archery team opened its Olympic campaign with encouraging results, securing two silver medals at the Shanghai stage of the Archery World Cup, which concluded on May 11. The showing follows a two-gold, one-bronze performance at the season's opening event in the United States-an early sign of promise on the road to the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.

Team manager Mu Yong told Xinhua in an interview Sunday that the team made clear progress during its winter training, which emphasized fundamentals and mental stability.

"The team is maturing. But we must continue to strengthen our foundation and stay composed under pressure to truly compete for Olympic gold," he said.

3. China's Liao and Yang shatter world records at 2025 Asian Weightlifting Championships

The 2025 Asian Weightlifting Championships continued in Jiangshan, Zhejiang Province on May 13, with Chinese athletes Yang Qiuxia and Liao Guifang rewriting world records in their categories.

In a thrilling showdown between Yang and the Hangzhou Asian Games champion Song Kuk Hyang of DPR Korea, Song matched the existing world record with 121kg, but Yang stole the spotlight on her third attempt. After a tense buildup, the Chinese lifter narrowly completed a 122kg lift just before the last second, breaking the snatch world record by 1kg.

In clean and jerk session Yang lifted 140kg, finishing with a total of 262kg. Song, however, finished with 155kg lifts, setting new world records in both clean and jerk and total (276kg), surpassing previous marks by 1kg and 3kg respectively. Yang claimed gold in snatch and silvers in clean and jerk and total, while Song secured golds in the latter two events and silver in snatch. Kristel Macrohon of the Philippines earned three bronze medals.

4. China's Zheng beats Sabalenka for the first time to reach Italian Open semifinals

China's Zheng Qinwen claimed a straight-sets victory over top seed Aryna Sabalenka in the quarterfinals of the WTA Italian Open on May 14, reaching the semifinals of a WTA 1000 event for the third time in her career.

The two players had met six times previously, with Sabalenka winning on each occasion. This match marked their first encounter on clay.

Zheng gave herself a score of 7.5 for her performance. "I think I did well at the start, and I told myself I couldn't lose those opening games so easily like before. When the match enters a tighter phase, I feel it's more to my advantage, because actually, I'm better than her at playing long rallies. When the match goes into a three or four-shot exchange, statistically, I have the edge," Zheng reflected.

5. China dominates 2025 Asian Weightlifting Championships with 31 medals

The 2025 Asian Weightlifting Championships concluded in Jiangshan, Zhejiang Province, on May 15, with team China securing 31 gold, 15 silver, and 11 bronze medals. The host nation capped off its dominant performance with a golden sweep by world champion Li Yan on the final day of competition.

In the women's +87kg category, Li was challenged by Paris Olympic silver medalist Park Hyejeong of South Korea.

Li entered the snatch segment as the final competitor and clinched gold outright with her opening lift of 135kg, then she lifted 140kg, finishing a commanding 15kg ahead of Park (125kg). South Korea's Son Younghee claimed bronze with 121kg.

Li successfully lifted 162kg and 170kg before passing her third attempt in clean and jerk. Her total of 310kg secured a clean sweep of gold medals in snatch, clean and jerk, and total weight. Park took silver in total (285kg) and bronze in clean and jerk (160kg), while Son earned clean and jerk silver (161kg) and total bronze (282kg).