Wu finishes third as birthday gift at Chinese swim meet

On the first morning-final swim meet in China, Wu finished third in 53.50 seconds in the men's 100 meters butterfly, 0.30 seconds below his personal best while sprinter Zhou Jiawei defended his title in 52.87, 0.01 second shy of the Olympic Games standard A.

Wu, runner-up at the world championships in Melbourne last March, said: "I had a short break after the worlds and have not trained effectively these days because we have tried a new training timetable in early morning."

"I felt tired at the last 25 meters where I always make strong comeback. That means I need more training. The results is acceptable," said Wu, who will also compete in the 200m and 400m freestyle.

As a birthday gift, Wu said the bronze is OK. "I am not strong in the 100m distance and I am used to celebrate my birthday at the competitions. My mother sent me a cake yesterday. That is all."

"My birthday wish is to stand up on the medal podium at the Beijing Olympic Games," Wu said.

In other finals, Pang Jiaying claimed victory in the women's 200m freestyle in 2:00.31, Jiao Liuyang won a gold in the women's 100m butterfly in 59.48, Liu Weijia touched home first in the men's 200m individual medley in 4:18.97.

Shanghai dominated in the women's 4X100m medley relay in 4:07.59.

The seven-day national meet set 32 events on stake and is being held in an outdoor pool.