Hu Kai (right) wins the men's 100 meters dash at the East Asian Games in Macau yesterday.

Hu Kai, "the Flying Spectacles Man" as he is known in China, has set his sights on the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing after winning the men's 100 meters dash at the East Asian Games in Macau yesterday.
Nicknamed for his ever-present glasses prescribed for myopia, or near-sightedness, the student of Beijing's Tsing-hua University came home in 10.40 seconds, well outside his personal best of 10.27.
Japanese Shingo Kawabata was second in 10.54, ahead of Chinese Taipei's Wang Shih-wen in 10.63. "I felt good about the victory but the time was not good because I have just competed in the National Games," said Hu.
Hu was injured in the 100m semifinals at last month's National Games but hung on for a silver medal.
Yesterday's race was stalled by two false starts, which helped Hu. "The false starts did good to me because it enabled me to find my rhythm out of the blocks," said Hu.
The 23-year-old Hu rose to fame on his international debut at the World University Games in Izmir, Turkey, in August, when he clocked 10.30 to win the 100m.
Born in the eastern port city of Qingdao in Shandong Province, Hu only began running five years ago as a high school senior and had never competed before attending Tsinghua's economic management school.
Hu said two people influenced him the most - his father, a keen sports fan who could run the 100m in a little over 11 seconds, and his first coach Zhang Hengquan.
Zhang picked him from a high school high jump team and improved his 100m time from 11.3 seconds to 10.30 in 10 months. The coach died of illness in June when Hu was preparing for the Universiade.
"I didn't attend my coach's funeral because I was preparing for the university games," Hu said. "That gold medal was dedicated to my coach."
In 2001, Hu was told that he would attend Tsinghua as an athlete-student if he totaled 200 points in the national university entrance exams, compared to 540 points for an ordinary student. But Hu scored 582 points.